Bencic leads Switzerland past Italy, Slovakia beat Belgium

Belinda Bencic led Switzerland to victory over Italy in their opening Billie Jean King Cup tie on Wednesday while Slovakia bounced back from a tough loss to Australia to defeat Belgium and get their campaign back on track.

Olympic champion Bencic, the world number 12, saw off Jasmine Paolini 7-5 6-3 to secure the Group A tie for Switzerland after Jil Teichmann saved a match point en route to her thrilling 6-3 4-6 7-6(5) win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

Bencic returned to court half an hour later to team up with Teichmann and wrap up a flawless day for last year's finalists as they beat Paolini and Martina Trevisan 7-6(5) 6-1 to complete a 3-0 sweep.

Earlier, Viktoria Kuzmova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova won their singles ties to help secure a 2-1 victory over Belgium in their final Group B tie.

Kuzmova had lost to Ajla Tomljanovic on Wednesday but bagged a valuable doubles point with Tereza Mihalikova, and she carried that momentum into her powerful 6-2 7-6(7) win over Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium.

Schmiedlova sealed the tie for Slovakia in a tenacious 5-7 6-2 6-3 win over Maryna Zanevska before the doubles pairing of Elise Mertens and Kirsten Flipkens got Belgium on the board with a crushing 6-0 6-3 win over Kuzmova and Mihalikova.

The competition, formerly called the Fed Cup, was renamed in honour of the 12-times American Grand Slam champion and restructured into a format concluding with 12 nations competing over one week for the title.

The United States will take on Poland in Group D while Spain face Kazakhstan in Group C later on Wednesday.