United Cup: Belinda Bencic continued her winning streak from the beginning of the season on Saturday, defeating Elise Mertens 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(0) in a thrilling match to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead over Belgium in the United Cup mixed-gender team tennis quarterfinals in Sydney.

In the men’s singles match against Zizou Bergs, veteran Stan Wawrinka will try to advance the Swiss to the final for the first time and set up a summit matchup with the victor of the second semifinal between the USA and Poland.

Bencic’s victory on Saturday was partly a form of retaliation since Mertens had beaten her in their lone prior encounter in 2021. But on Saturday, Bencic, 28, who had a 6-0 record in Switzerland’s first three meetings, entered the match in unbeatable form. Switzerland advanced to the last four because to her flawless play against Leolia Jeanjean, Jasmine Paolini, and Solana Sierra.

After defeating Zhu Lin in straight sets, Mertens faced Victoria Mboko and Barbora Krejcikova in back-to-back difficult matches.

Mertens forced the match into a decider only two games away from the Swiss star’s sweeping 6-3, 6-4 triumph. After denying Bencic two opportunities to win the second set at 5-5, the Belgian broke serve to win a match in which she had earlier lost a 3-1 lead.

This created the conditions for a thrilling third set, as Mertens overcame a 3-1 deficit, saved two break chances that would have put Bencic up 4-1, and was only two points away from victory with Bencic serving at 30-30, behind 6-5. However, after making the quick choice to switch to a newly strung racquet at that point, Bencic won the last nine points of the match, completing the triumph in 2 hours and 37 minutes.

In the on-court interview after the game, Bencic said, “It feels like 170 kilos fell off my shoulders — I was so stressed; I really wanted to do well, and today I felt so much pressure to not let my team down.”

She humbly said, “My brain turned off and let my instincts take over.” during the racquet swap.The United Cup’s official website cited her as stating, “I think it was just a feeling, and I played with my back against the wall.” “I was really focused on myself, on breathing, and I’m super happy that I stayed tough in the important moments,” she said.