Switzerland have won the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time in their history after defeating Australia in Sunday's final in Glasgow.
Heinz Gunthardt's team - who were runners-up in 2021 - got the job done in both of their singles matches through Jil Teichmann and Belinda Bencic to avoid a deciding doubles rubber.
Teichmann began the afternoon against Storm Sanders in a lengthy and hard-fought battle, which she eventually won 6-3 4-6 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes.
The 25-year-old broke in the fourth game of the first set to establish a 3-1 lead and did not let her guard down on serve, sealing a straightforward first-set win albeit with 15 unforced errors.
Sanders responded in a second set with four consecutive breaks in the first four games, and Teichmann double-faulted twice in the 10th to hand the Australian a route back into the tie.
By managing to keep the unforced error count down in the third set, Teichmann soon regained control of the contest, but there was one break apiece in the opening four games.
However, in game five, it was Sanders's turn to hand Teichmann a break on a double fault, and the 25-year-old won three successive points on Sanders's serve in the ninth game to put Switzerland 1-0 up.
Sweet Swiss redemption 🇨🇭🏆
— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) November 13, 2022
2021 runners-up @swiss_tennis re-write the history books with their first ever title#BJKCupFinals | @BelindaBencic pic.twitter.com/V0M1m59cPP
Following Teichmann's win, compatriot Bencic - who had not dropped a set all week - had the chance to deliver glory for her country against Alja Tomljanovic.
Any pressure that was on the shoulders of the former world number four was not evident on the court, as she stormed to a title-clinching 6-2 6-1 win in just 75 minutes.
Bencic earned three consecutive breaks in the first set to assert her dominance over Tomljanovic, who broke once herself but posted 15 unforced errors compared to just six for Bencic.
Tomljanovic hit two consecutive aces to hold in the first game of the second set, but a ruthless Bencic would proceed to win the next six games in an astonishing showing.
Despite posting two double faults in the second set, Bencic responded with double the number of aces, and a flustered Tomljanovic also failed to cope with her counterpart's searing backhand.
While 40-15 up in the seventh game, Bencic watched Tomljanovic send one final backhand into the net tape before the celebrations began as Switzerland celebrated a first-ever Billie Jean King Cup crown.
Ben Knapton
