Belinda Bencic didn’t have her game come together at the Australian Open Wednesday. Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum had a dominant game that got her into the third round as a qualifier winning 6-1, 6-3 on Hisense Arena at Melbourne Park. It was the first time she reached this point in any grand slam and one she was proud of.
This was the third time the Swiss star met the surprising Thai who has plenty of experience playing the main draw at Melbourne Park. While she didn’t have a massive upset in her first round like Bencic did with defeating Venus Williams, the opportunity was at her fingertips to down the 20 yea old from making what seemed to be a comeback year. While it has been four years since their last meeting, there was no doubt going to be competition at hand.
Bencic gained the first victory fast gaining the triple break on Kumkhum to make a strong impression. The Thai star proved her worth breaking the Swiss 20-year-old and held to consolidate herself an early lead. She hunted for a third straight as errors from Bencic handed Kumkhum momentum to strike offensively. She did so pressuring the Swiss star on the break to widen the gap.
Bencic showed a lot more fight being warmed up with the notion of her not wanting to lose more ground. She picked up the slack to fight for the break in the fifth where she went five breaks only to lose again and Kumkhum up 4-1. The Thai star was not playing a miraculous set as she had her game on lock while Bencic frantically searched for her own to come alive.
Time was running out for her as the Thai star served for the set but opened the door to let Bencic have some hope. After a break, she shut the door on the 20-year-old to complete an impressive 6-1 win in 34 minutes. While her game was near flawless having served up 13 winners, Bencic’s five double faults were enough to assist in her nearly sweeping the set.
Bencic opened the set with a much-needed hold of serve to build up some offense and confidence in herself. She found ways of keeping tight with Kumkhum despite the battles to finish games. They were already half hour into the set with five games completed and the 24-year-old ahead once more. A hold in the sixth inched her closer to achieving straight sets against the 20-year-old Swiss miss who struggled with the hard shots from Kumkhum.
She etched out a third win in the seventh putting her within reach of a tie for the first time in the match. The gap opened up back to a pair with the 24-year-old pushing Bencic to the edge on her own serve which she failed with unforced errors that rattled her. Two strong points came soon after that helped her reach deuce in the ninth and save herself for a time. It all fell apart as forehand error handed Kumkhum a fourth match point which she got on a seven-shot rally that ended with Bencic smashing the ball into the net ending 78 minutes of play.
“This is the best year that I am having so far,” Kumkhum said during her on court interview. “I’m really happy and I did it because I keep telling my coach and family that I’m trying so hard to pass the second round and today I did it.” She will try and get further than ever as she’ll play the winner between Petra Martic or Irina Camelia Begu on Friday.
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