In her first Hologic WTA Tour match since her maternity leave, 2021 Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic defeated Chloe Paquet 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead over France in their Group D tie at the United Cup in Sydney.

“I’m really excited to be back, of course,” Bencic said on court after her win. “I had a little bit of nerves at the start and a little bit of rust, so I’m happy I kind of accepted that and tried to fight through it. And after, I felt like it went smoother, I became a little bit more calm, and kind of was more able to focus on my tennis.”

But France leveled the tie at 1-1 after 14th-ranked Ugo Humbert beat Dominic Stricker 6-3, 7-5 in men’s singles. The tie will be settled by a decisive mixed doubles rubber: Bencic and Stricker vs. Elixane Lechemia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Former World No.4 Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella in April, needed 87 minutes to best 123rd-ranked Paquet on the hard courts of Ken Rosewall Arena. This was Bencic’s first win at a tour event since her third-round victory at the 2023 US Open over 15 months ago.

“I didn’t expect, of course, to be back so early,” Bencic said. “I definitely have a huge respect to all the moms there, what a woman goes through, the body changes.

“And everything is amazing, we couldn’t be happier at the moment. We are parents now, our lives have changed, but definitely for the better, and yeah, we are super excited with Bella. She’s here, we survived the flight to Australia, and I’m really, really happy.”

Bencic returned to the courts in October, playing Billie Jean King Cup, WTA 125 and ITF events. Signs were already present that she was solidly returning to form, reaching a WTA 125 final on the indoor hardcourts of Angers, France in her most recent event.

The Tokyo Olympic champion brought that resurgent form into her first meeting with Paquet, a tour veteran who cracked the Top 100 for the first time in her career earlier this year just after her 30th birthday.

From 3-2 down, Bencic won four games in a row to claim the opening set, in which she fired seven backhand winners to Paquet’s one. Bencic extended her game-winning streak to nine straight before Paquet got on the scoreboard again at 5-1 in the second set. Bencic routinely served out the match one game later.

Humbert followed for France and tied up the clash with a 72-minute victory over Stricker.

“It was the first match of the year, so it was not easy after the preseason. I worked well,” Humbert said. “I felt much better at the end and I’m super happy about my win today.”

Humbert closed his 2024 season with the best tournament of his career. The lefty made his first ATP Masters 1000 final at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Although the Frenchman did not play a perfect match against Stricker to begin the new season, falling behind by a break in the second set, he remained composed and battled through in straight sets.

“I tried to push myself,” Humbert said. “At the end I had the break, my energy was going low, so I tried to push a little bit more and I played really great tennis at the end, so it was a nice victory for me.”

More to come…