Cori Gauff gave it every effort to make the final of a tournament but was cut short at the Adelaide International Friday night. Belinda Bencic had to fight off the teen through three sets to win 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 6-2 on center court at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre. It secured the second seed into her 11th WTA final and her first since 2018.
This was the first time the two stars met and the first WTA 500 semifinal for the American teenager. Despite having played four full matches since being in qualifications, Gauff’s never say die attitude put her in a terrific spot. Bencic was in her third match of the tournament, playing just four sets on her way to a possible final, a first for the Swiss since 2019. Having yet dropped a set, the second seed tried to become the first player to hold back the surging teenager.
Bencic took advantage early on some early struggles from Gauff on serve but soon found her fight back to force deuce. Having recovered every breakpoint, the 16-year-old clinched the first AD point to hold serve. She then caught a break, taking the second on Bencic’s errors on the forehand serve. Gauff consolidated that with a stunning 3-0 lead on the second seed, taking a surprising dictation early on.
Bencic avoided the deficit from getting any deeper, holding an important service in the fourth. Hoping to get another win under her belt, Gauff denied the Swiss star the opportunity. The American let her opponent, who was steaming with frustration make the mistakes herself to hand the teen a 4-1 hold. In her attempt to keep in touch with Gauff, Bencic etched out another key service hold, cutting the margin in half.
She dug into the seventh as soon as Gauff erred on serve, edging the American at 30-all to produce a breakpoint and seal the win. Bencic battled once more on serve, keeping the 16-year-old from threatening on deuce, winning the first AD point. With the score even after eight games and Bencic finding her groove, Gauff shut down the Swiss come back to take the 5-4 stance.
Bencic knew that holding serve would not only extend the set but leave with opportunities to regroup against Gauff. Holding the American to just one point made it possible to do just that, but the 11th didn’t go her way as the teen held serve. Knowing that she had to keep it going, Bencic sealed the 12th with an ace down the T, forcing a first-set tiebreak. Bencic opened to a 3-0 lead before giving Gauff two points.
She returned to serve on the sixth point, doubling her lead over the American and increasing further. The double mini-break gave the second seed a sigh of relief, closing out the first in 56 minutes having come back from 1-4 down. Bencic managed her game well despite having too many double faults in the opening set.
It didn’t help that she produced three more during her opening service of the second set, gifting breakpoints to Gauff. Despite the deficit, the second seed rallied back to force deuce, denied another break chance, and held soon thereafter. Bencic consolidated the hold with a break of the teenager, gaining important morale while her opponent fatigued out on the court.
The second seed took a commanding 3-0 run in just ten minutes, showing a real change of control. Gauff put a stop to her slide, holding an important game in the fourth. Bencic effectively took care of another service game, denying Gauff any leverage to produce a break of serve. She answered back in the sixth with a big service hold that went to deuce but ended with the teen smashing the winner after two breaks.
Gauff was back in contention as Bencic blew up her service with a double fault in the seventh, giving the American a chance to level back like her opponent did. The second seed knew she couldn’t let that happen and dug in for anything Gauff served at her. Forcing deuce was the order for the 23-year-old, who played every point until a rally had her at an advantage, winning the eighth on an awkward smash.
Leading 5-3, Bencic served for the match finding the right angle to get that bested Gauff. A bad beat for the young American came when a shot return hit the top of the net but fell back into her end. She responded with a well-placed winner down the right tramline and another to earn breakpoint. Gauff erred to force deuce, playing the point too deep. A bad return gave Bencic a match point, but the teen killed it with a net-front smashed winner. Bencic forced the error on the second break before blowing the game on a shot with too much speed.
The tenth was a key point for Bencic who at one point had the match won on an error from Gauff during an AD point. The umpire called deuce which incensed the second seed to argue the point. Because it was too close to call, the point was replayed and, in the end, Gauff went on to take the win. Bencic knuckled down to regain the lead 6-5 fighting well on serve. Gauff did just the same thing in the 12th to force another tiebreak that either forced a decider to end on it.
This time it was the American up 3-0, earning mini breaks on the 23-year-old. Bencic got into it after four missed points and added another two. The drop shots from Gauff caused damage to the Swiss star who overplayed another one on the return. She got within reach for a moment, but the 16-year-old went on to take the next two points, securing another three-set match that took one hour and nine minutes to get to.
After blowing her chance at ending it early, Bencic went on the offensive against the teen, who was into her 13th hour of tennis this week. To make a statement, the 23-year-old scored her first break to love of Gauff and backed it up with a hold in the second. She watched the teen make her mark in the deciding set but took over in the fourth before scoring another break. With the 4-1 lead and comfortable momentum, Bencic went on to dictate another service game leading 5-1.
The American had one last chance to make a comeback on serve in the seventh, play every point possible. She earned the hold of serve but was still three games from threatening Bencic. The Swiss had the close the teen down quickly and in the eighth, the second seed succeeded. Despite it taking her 2 hours and 46 minutes, Bencic earned match points to end it on a winner.
"I'm super relieved," Bencic said after the match. "I tried to fight as best as I can and I have huge respect for Cori Gauff. She's a huge fight and at this age, it's really impressive and she gave me a hard time. At times I really didn't know what to do anymore but I'm really happy I'm through to the final." She'll go into Saturday's match against reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek in her quest to win her first WTA title since Toronto in 2015.
WTA is so Over hyped , I miss Justine Henin :/
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