SYDNEY — Belinda Bencic prolonged her opener unbeaten run and led Switzerland 1-0 on Saturday with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0) win over Elise Mertens in opposition to Belgium within the United Cup semi-finals.
With scorching temperatures of as much as 43 levels Celsius (109 levels Fahrenheit) forecast for Sydney, event organizers began the video games half-hour sooner than scheduled.
Stan Wawrinka, who’s retiring on the finish of this season, will play in opposition to Zizou Bergs within the males’s singles to attempt to ship Switzerland to Sunday’s ultimate at Ken Rosewall Enviornment, the place they’ll face both defending champions USA or Poland.
Bencic had received all six units in his first three matches on the United Cup. She was two video games away from successful two units earlier than Mertens pushed the match additional.
Mertens then got here again from a 3-1 deficit within the third set, saving two break factors that will have given Bencic a 4-1 lead and taking Bencic’s serve two factors away from successful the set at 6-5, 30-30.
Nevertheless, Bencic determined to exchange his racquet with a recent one, scoring the ultimate 9 factors of the match and successful the match in 2 hours and 37 minutes.
“It felt like 170 kilograms had been lifted off my shoulders. I used to be very confused. I actually needed to do nicely, however right now I felt plenty of stress to not let the group down,” Bencic mentioned.
When she modified racquets, she mentioned, “My mind switched off and I let my instincts take over. I believe it was only a feeling.”
Within the different semifinal afterward Saturday, second-ranked Iga Świętek of Poland was scheduled to face fourth-ranked Coco Gauff of the USA, whereas Hubert Hurkasz was scheduled to face American Taylor Fritz. If each groups are tied after singles, a blended doubles match will likely be performed.
Friday’s quarter-final match between Poland and Australia separated the groups within the blended doubles ultimate.
