Belinda Bencic couldn’t hold off the problems late that took her out quickly at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Tuesday. The tenth seed racked up too many double faults in the second set against Kristina Mladenovic, who remained comfortable to come through in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 upsetting the tenth seed on Court Two at the Foro Italico.
This was their seventh match with one another and for the Swiss, having a clay court win against the French star was key to possibly advance. Last week in Madrid, Bencic delivered a blow to Mladenovic that took her out in straight sets. In her fifth appearance in Rome, the 24-year-old would try to avoid letting the world number 53, who made the quarterfinals when it was last played. The Swiss hadn’t made a deep run at the Foro Italico, but a start against the Frenchwoman left the door open for that chance.
The opening game saw the 27-year-old playing the rallies well, until the point where they reached deuce that the game began to draw out. They went five breaks with Bencic there to wreak havoc through each one of the breaks. It was a ten-minute ordeal for the lucky loser to come through on her own service. Bencic swept through the second game, holding Mladenovic to a single point. She hoped to have a better outcome in the third against the tenth seed and succeeded with her returns working better to hold off a chance for deuce.
She backed up the hold with a break of the Swiss, taking a commanding 4-1 lead. Mladenovic increased the margin on serve in the sixth, but the double break that would have given her the set didn’t go down that path. Bencic took control of her service, blasting out a strong hold to keep going. Bencic scored a break that notched another victory while holding her opponent from the set. Mladenovic’s second attempt and closing out the first was tested by Bencic, who forced deuce with a breakpoint that loomed for a moment. The French star took care of business to produce chances and took the victory on the second break, completing 51 minutes.
Despite committing four double faults, the 27-year-old maintained a serve percentage of 65 winning 19 of 28 points from the first, and produced more breakpoints converted and saved. She began the second breaking Bencic before consolidating it for an early 2-0 lead. The Swiss got on the board but she fell back when Mladenovic kept the two-game margin alive. It was that way again in the sixth, but the tenth seed fought to get within reach of the French star.
She scored the eighth game on a much-needed break that leveled her for the first time in the match. Backing it up with a hold on serve was a huge problem as her double faults came back to ruin her offense. The Swiss’s seventh of the set allowed Mladenovic to come through the ninth and have the door open to serve for the match. With Bencic making bad mistakes on the return side, it gave Mladenovic the victory in 1 hour and 48 minutes scoring an ace for match point and putting it away on a line drive winner.
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