Belinda Bencic dug in with her experience to come through at the Adelaide International Wednesday. The Swiss star had an overall positive outcome against Misaki Doi, who showed resilience but went down 6-1, 6-3 on center court at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre.
The two met back in 2015 where Bencic and Doi went three sets at the US Open. The 12th seeded Swiss star got into pressure against the Japanese player but held up well in the deciding set. The world number 12 didn’t get a lot of time to prep for the Australian Open and went down in the third round against Elise Mertens. With time to regroup her skills, the 23 year old eyed making good on her first-round bye and fight for a spot in the quarterfinals.
She opened the match with a break of Doi, forcing deuce, and took control of the finish. Bencic backed it up with a hold of serve for the early gap on the 29 year old. Doi put too much on her return shots to Bencic, handing the second seed with a double break. Doi knew that she had to get on the board, doing so with a break back over Bencic. In return, the second seed returned to her three-game lead with a triple break in the fifth.
The 23 year old took care of business, holding the Japanese star back to serve it out. Gaining two set points, Bencic put the first away with a crosscourt winner ending things in 26 minutes. The second seed’s return game was in better shape than Doi’s, scoring on 17 of 23 and four of four converted breakpoints.
With fierce momentum, Bencic opened the second battling Doi, who gained a breakpoint chance, but blew the breakpoint. After forcing deuce, the second seed produced AD point attempts to hold the first. She made Doi pay for it with a swift break, allowing the Japanese player a single point in the second. Bencic consolidated with a hold in the third, widening the gap once more. The 29 year old got on the board once more in the fourth, but the second seed answered with a hold in the fifth.
Sitting two games from the match win, Bencic pressed Doi to err in the fifth, giving up the break to love. The second seed earned the ball to serve out her day on the court but fell behind with errors of her own. Doi had a break to love but then gave up two to Bencic. With one left, Doi let a ball get away from her, landing long of the baseline near Bencic. It brought the second seed to deuce where the window to gain the victory was open. Doi dug into a rally where Bencic smashed one back into the net, killing her shot at ending it.
The Swiss star brushed off her second defeat by Doi, playing every point while returning. It didn’t produce the result she wanted, handing the 29 year old another victory. With a second chance to close it out, the second seed ran Doi all over for the first point and conducted a winner for the second. In her attempt to go for an ace, Bencic committed a double fault but earned two match points on an error from Doi.
The Swiss blew her first attempt into the net, and the second with another double fault. The Japanese star could smell a fourth win on the second seed, scoring a chance with the AD point. The ball landed long for Doi, bringing Bencic back to deuce only to notch her third double fault. Doi failed to clinch the AD point, giving the Swiss one more shot. A nicely placed winner handed Bencic a third match point. A hit down the middle went awry for the 29 year old, who blew it into the net, ending 1 hour and 11 minutes.
“I felt really good on the court,” Bencic said after the match. “I really like playing on this court and I’m really happy that I won.” The second seed had 25 winners but let the unforced errors get away from her. With a move into the last eight, she’ll await her next opponent and move forward.
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