Cobolli, Paolini lead Italy’s United Cup sweep of Switzerland

Rome: Flavio Cobolli and Jasmine Paolini clinched Italy’s victory against Switzerland on Sunday at the United Cup with a singles victory each in Sydney.

Cobolli beat Dominic Stricker 6-3, 7-6(2) to give Italy a 1-0 lead against Switzerland. Jasmine Paolini then sealed the tie with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Belinda Bencic before Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori completed the sweep with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Bencic and Stricker.

Just more than a year ago, Cobolli defeated Stricker in the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. On Sunday, the Italian was victorious against the Swiss again. This time, however, the win was for his country.

“Of course I think I played a really good match,” Cobolli said. “It’s always a great thing to play with the flag of Italy on the heart, with some friends on the bench, with my dad on the bench.

“It’s always fun and I did great things today for us.”

It was a breakthrough 2024 for Cobolli, who climbed to a career-high No. 30 in the PIF ATP Rankings in September. The 22-year-old showed his strength and resolve inside Ken Rosewall Arena, saving all five break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Stricker did well to fight back in the second set, much like he did Saturday against Ugo Humbert. But Cobolli’s consistent level proved too high, as the Italian took a 2-0 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Paolini earned her first win of the new season by cruising past Bencic. The World No. 4’s dominant performance gave Italy an unassailable 2-0 lead and dropped the Swiss squad to 1-1 in Group D. Italy (1-0) can now finish atop Group D with a win over France (0-1) on Tuesday.

Playing her first match since leading Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title in November, Paolini showed no signs of rust or wear against Bencic. The Swiss Olympic champion posted an impressive win over Chloe Paquet in her first tour-level match since her return from maternity leave and entered Sunday night’s showdown with a 2-0 career record over Paolini.

But in their first meeting since 2022, Paolini showed the improved level that has boosted her to No.4 on the PIF WTA Rankings. Paolini won the first eight points of the match by controlling the power game from the baseline and did not look back. Bencic served at just 39 per cent in the first set, allowing Paolini to take immediate control of the rallies and break Bencic in each of her three service games.

The trend continued in the second set. Paolini rolled through her return games to keep Bencic winless on her service games, breaking her for a seventh time to close out the win after 58 minutes.