Switzerland loses its second preliminary round match at the United Cup. In Sydney, they are 2-0 down against Italy after the defeats of Belinda Bencic and Dominic Stricker.

One day after their success against France, the second hurdle at the Mixed World Championships in Australia was too high for Bencic and Stricker. In her first match against a top 100 player since the birth of her daughter, Bencic lost to French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini by a clear 1:6, 1:6. The match lasted just 58 minutes. Stricker lost to Flavio Cobolli 3:6, 6:7 (2:7).

Bencic, who has been convincing since her return to the tour at the end of October, had to realize that an opponent of Paolini’s stature, the number 4 in the world, is still a size too big at the moment. The Olympic champion particularly struggled against the aggressive Italian on her own serve. She won both of her games on Paolini’s serve at 1:4 in the first set and 1:3 in the second.

Stricker was much closer to victory than Bencic. The 22-year-old from Bern, who is ranked No. 300 in the ATP rankings, earned five break chances against Cobolli, but failed to capitalize on any of them. Meanwhile, the world no. 32 from Florence was particularly efficient in the important moments and also clearly dominated the tie-break in the second set.

In the mixed set, Switzerland still had the opportunity to reduce the deficit to 1:2. This could be decisive in terms of the quarter-final places.