Switzerland beats Australia to win Billie Jean King Cup

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Switzerland has won the biggest prize in women’s team tennis for the first time after Belinda Bencic completed a near-perfect tournament by beating Australia’s Alja Tomljanovic in straight sets in the Billie Jean King Cup final. The win gave Switzerland an unassailable 2-0 lead after Jil Teichmann outlasted Australia’s Storm Sanders 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the opening singles match. Bencic had not dropped a set all week and extended that streak by beating Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-1. Switzerland had never won the competition formerly known as the Fed Cup, losing the final in 1998 and again last year. Australia won it seven times but the last was in 1974. The Australians also lost in the final in 2019.