After surviving a third-set tie-break in the opening singles against Elise Mertens, Bencic teamed with Jakub Paul<\/a> to win their third decisive mixed doubles of the tournament by defeating Mertens and Zizou Bergs<\/a> 6-3, 0-6, 10-5 after regrouping from a second-set collapse when they won just 12 points. <\/p>\n Bencic, 28 and mother of 21-month-old daughter Bella, has won all four singles and all four mixed doubles matches during the event. In the first set of Saturday\u2019s mixed, Bencic won both deciding points on her serve when Mertens failed to put a return in play. <\/p>\n Doubles World No. 81 Paul, who won just six tour-level doubles matches last year, rose to the occasion, poaching with confidence and hitting several down-the-line winners at crucial moments.<\/p>\n In Sunday\u2019s final inside Ken Rosewall<\/a> Arena, the Swiss will play the winner of tonight\u2019s second semi-final between defending champion United States and two-time finalist Poland. <\/p>\n Despite anchoring the team\u2019s path to the final with eight wins, Bencic was quick to praise others on her team, especially her unheralded mixed partner Paul.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s so brave it\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d Bencic said. \u201cI tell him to go [for it] and he actually goes. It\u2019s crazy. <\/p>\n \u201cThe team spirit is amazing and it starts with the captain. He\u2019s supporting all throughout my match and then he goes out to play his own match and then he\u2019s back to support the doubles. It starts with him but then with all the energy from our bench it gives us such a spirit to win.<\/p>\n Paul said, \u201cIt\u2019s easy to find the energy with this team. It\u2019s great to play with Belinda. Hats off to her to play for almost three hours and then come out for the doubles. And great job by Stan to keep Zizou as long as possible on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier, Bergs sent the Belgium-Switzerland United Cup<\/a> semi-final to a deciding mixed doubles after a gruelling 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 win over Stan Wawrinka<\/a> in brutal 41-degree Sydney heat.<\/p>\n In the first match of the day, Bencic kept her undefeated season-opening run at the United Cup<\/a> in tact in dramatic fashion as she outlasted Elise Mertens 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(0) to put Switzerland up 1-0.<\/p>\n Backing up his consecutive wins over World No. 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/a> and No. 18 Jakub Mensik<\/a>, Bergs rallied from 40\/0 on Wawrinka\u2019s serve at 4-3 in the third set to claim the decisive break seemingly from nowhere in a match that had featured just six break points to that stage.<\/p>\n Wawrinka, the 40-year-old three-time Grand Slam champion, has played inspired tennis to kick off his farewell season. But breaking serve just once across four matches has proved costly as he slipped to 1-3 in singles matches during the tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cStan played really well and I really had to battle it out today,\u201d Bergs said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard to control the ball on return and he served very good; it was very hard for me. To get rhythm is very tough. I\u2019m just happy I found the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Bergs will team with Mertens in the mixed doubles against Bencic and Jakub Paul<\/a>, who have won all three mixed rubbers (two of them tie-clinching) this week.<\/p>\n Bergs is looking to erase the heartache of his last outing in the Davis Cup semi-finals, when he let slip seven match points against Italian Flavio Cobolli<\/a> while attempting to send the tie to a deciding doubles.<\/p>\n Bergs, 26, won 31 matches last year, more than doubling his career match wins tally. He begins the year at No. 42 in the PIF ATP Rankings, just three places below his career-high.<\/p>\n Playing his 25th and final season, Wawrinka began the United Cup<\/a> with an inspired third-set tie-break win over World No. 27 Arthur Rinderknech<\/a> in Perth and a third-set tie-break loss to Cobolli. He fell in straight sets to Sebastian Baez<\/a> in a quarter-final in Perth.<\/p>\n
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