Swiatek enters 2023 with revenge victory over Bencic as she stops late comeback
WTA
Iga Swiatek took on Belinda Bencic at the 2023 United Cup as Poland faced off with Switzerland for a spot in the final stage.
Poland and Switzerland managed to get easy victories over Kazakhstan, which will finish last in their group at the 2023 United Cup. Therefore, they could fight for the top spot in the group, and the fight started with a WTA singles match between Iga Swiatek and Belinda Bencic.
The two met at the US Open in 2021 when the Swiss player stopped current World No. 1 to book a quarter-final match with eventual champion Emma Raducanu. The young Pole spoke about this match before their meeting at the United Cup, stating she remembers it really well.
Entering the match, Bencic was on an impressive five-match winning streak as she helped her country to win the Billie Jean King Cup in November and also defeated Yulia Putintseva at the United Cup.
On the other hand, Swiatek won 21 out of the last 24 matches she played, as only Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elena Rybakina stopped her in the previous four months. Bencic didn't add her name to this list of players, as she lost in two sets.
The World No. 1 player started the match with an early break as she led 4-1 shortly after the start. However, Bencic soon got a break back and looked to level the score at 4-4. Yet, Swiatek got another break and eventually won the first set 6-3 in 42 minutes.
In the second set, the Swiss player couldn't create any break-point opportunities in the first nine games. On the other hand, her opponent had four, and after using one of those, Swiatek was serving for the match at 5-4.
Yet, Bencic managed to fight back and tie the score of the second set at 5-5. Eventually, the set reached a tie-break, and the Pole prevailed by winning it 7-3 and securing her first match of 2023 to ideally start the tie against Switzerland for her country.
