Belinda Bencic glides to victory in Mutua Madrid Opener

Belinda Bencic was in terrific form playing with an excellent forehand at the Mutua Madrid Open Thursday. Her opening round match against Kristina Mladenovic was full of winners and perfect aces that gave her the 6-4, 6-2 win on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium Court at the Caja Mágica. 

The two met for the fifth time in WTA action and the seventh overall. On clay, the French star defeated Bencic at Rome two years ago, with the Swiss star taking a big hit to her game in separate sets. Bencic didn’t have the best outcome at Stuttgart, losing in straight sets to Ekaterina Alexandrova. With her tournaments on clay cut short, the 24-year-old had to figure out how to counter Mladenovic and get into a new pace. The 27-year-old earned a lot of time through qualifications to enter the main draw in Madrid. As the effort paid off, she’d hope to add another victory while adding frustrations to her younger opponent. 

Mladenovic opened the match with a messy service game but managed to hold through it. Bencic responded with a stronger output, holding well in the second before scoring a key break over the Frenchwoman. Just when it looked as if Bencic would have a double break in the fifth, the former world number ten struck back to force deuce, finding positivity deep in her game to hold off the eighth seed. 

Bencic didn’t let Mladenovic keep the lead for long as she leveled the score after the sixth before breaking her for a second time. She consolidated the game with a good hold, taking a 5-3 lead with the hope of walking away with the set. The 28-year-old didn’t let her get the opportunity of a double break, putting herself a game down from leveling. Bencic had other plans on service, making sure that she clinched the game needed to close out the first in 45 minutes on Mladenovic suffering her ninth unforced error. While it didn’t seem like many, her two double faults also contributed to the eighth seed being out front. 

The 28-year-old held serve to open the second with Bencic still following behind. She took the lead when Mladenovic suffered a double fault opening the path for her to consolidate service in the third. The French star wouldn’t let Bencic capture the double break, working good on the forehand to stay out of further danger. She almost had a shot at tying the set with the eighth seed committing a double fault, but unforced errors set up the Swiss with a 4-2 stand. 

Bencic tried to take charge on another one of Mladenovic’s service games, nearly having a chance with a double fault. The Frenchwoman had 40-30 but was forced to deuce leading Bencic to take the game away after a break. With the 5-2 lead, the eighth seed served for the match with a pair of winners getting her into position. Despite one getting away from her, she put Mladenovic away with an ace down the T to close out her day in 1 hour and 19 minutes.