Swiss celebrate historic victory at Billie Jean King Cup
That winning feeling (from left): Simona Waltert. Viktorija Golubic, Heinz Günthardt, Jil Teichmann and Belinda Bencic
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Switzerland have won the biggest prize in women’s team tennis for the first time after Belinda Bencic completed a near-perfect tournament by beating Australia’s Alja Tomljanovic in straight sets in the final of the Billie Jean King Cup.
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Suiza celebra su histórica victoria en la Copa Billie Jean King
The win gave Switzerland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three tournament after Jil Teichmann outlasted Storm Sanders in the opening singles match.
“The Swiss tennis fairy tale continues,” wrote the Tages-AnzeigerExternal link newspaper on Sunday. “The tennis year in which Roger Federer had to end his career is getting a wondrous happy ending from a Swiss perspective after all.”
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The Swiss had never won the competition, formerly known as the Fed Cup. They lost the final in 1998 and again last year. Australia have won it seven times, but the last time was in 1974.
“We didn’t win this just today, it was this week, and it was actually over years,” team captain Heinz Günthardt said. “Who knows why you win something and you lose something. A lot of it has to do with heart. And this team has a lot of heart, I tell you.”
Olympic singles champion Bencic, ranked 12 in the world, said last year’s loss in the final served as extra motivation this time around.
“What happened last year gave us extra motivation,” she said in an on-court interview. “We were so heartbroken, I don’t think I have ever cried so much. But in the locker room Jil came to me and said: ‘Next year, we’re going to do it, we’re going to take it.’ And we did. I’m so incredibly proud.”
The victory marks the end of a highly lucrative week for Swiss tennis. The prize money of $2 million (CHF1.9 million) goes to the players and the captain, who can divide it among themselves – if they can’t agree, Swiss Tennis President René Stammbach will step in. For the federation, the success brings another $1.2 million.
Switzerland are the 12th different country to win the tournament and the first new champions since Italy in 2006.
Switzerland have won the Davis Cup, the male equivalent of the Billie Jean King Cup, once, in 2014 thanks to Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
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