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| Belinda Bencic swings the forehand during her quarterfinal match with Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Bett1 Open in Berlin. |
Belinda Bencic dug in deep to make her efforts pay off at the Bett1 Open Friday afternoon. The Swiss star fought hard through a majority of her match with Ekaterina Alexandrova, who made it a difficult outing but slipped up late in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) on Steffi Graff Stadion at the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club in Berlin.
The Swiss star overcame her long match to begin Berlin, coming through well against Petra Martic in straight sets. It set up the fifth seed with a fourth meeting with her Russian counterpart and the second meeting this season. Both got into a heavy battle once on the grass with Alexandrova etching her first win against Bencic. Since her upset of Elina Svitolina on Wednesday, the 26-year-old eyes taking out the Swiss star, who wanted to continue her way to a title.
The match opened with Bencic leading the way on serve and Alexandrova following suit. When the third came into play, the Russian took the pace in a different direction, earning a break. Bencic followed the path until she suffered the double break to Alexandrova in the fifth. The 26-year-old backed up her success in the sixth, with Bencic needing to hold serve and keep the pressure in the set tight. The Swiss managed to make it a one-game margin for Alexandrova, who was back on serve, inching her way closer to the business end of the first.
Bencic denied her the chance and broke her in the eighth that tied the score at four apiece. When she returned to serve the ninth, the fifth took over with the lead, earning her a shot at backing up the hold to take the set away. Despite some frustrations, Bencic battled back her mistakes, watched Alexandrova make a huge double fault that turned the tables just enough for the fifth seed to take the set in 40 minutes. The Russian’s problems from the second serve were a big factor in Bencic’s short comeback, who had a worse first serve percentage but never double-faulted.
When it looked like she would keep up the good pace from her serve to love that opened the second, she let it slip up. The 26-year-old scored an easy service game as Bencic let two points on the second serve return get away from her. On serve in the third, her body language changed drastically, leading Alexandrova to get the break. She backed it up with a service to love in the fourth for a 3-1 lead on the fifth seed.
Sitting in a hole, Bencic tried to cut into the gap working hard to secure the service and leave a game between herself and the Russian. Errors from the return game of Alexandrova pumped up the sixth seed, who battled for the break to even the score after six games. The Russian knew she couldn’t let Bencic be back in a position to dictate and worked through the Swiss in the seventh to score the break.
The 26-year-old backed up the break to go up 5-3 and pressure for a deciding set. Her opponent suffered a double fault that led Alexandrova to a set point, but a return went into the net, forcing deuce. After a few breaks and setpoints saved, Bencic earned the service hold that left her with one more game to win to level. With her first chance to serve for it, Alexandrova opened up a 40-0 run and her fourth set point chance giving her another three-set scenario with Bencic on grass after 45 minutes.
The three double faults that put Bencic in a similar position included a 32 percent serve percentage and just five winners to Alexandrova’s 15. With the need to put the second behind her and start from scratch, the fifth seed charged into the decider. Bencic scored a sere to love that got the third set underway with the Russian following along. Though she didn’t put the same strength as the Swiss, Alexandrova matched her opponent through the second and beyond.
The two played six games where the leverage was with Bencic who had another shutout in the fifth. Alexandrova scored one of her own to level at three-all, but the pace was near breakneck speed. After eight games, they still remained on serve, but as the ninth got underway, the battle increased and the pace slowed drastically. Bencic’s serve was under attack by Alexandrova, who wanted the break most.
The Swiss refused and had to force deuce to stay in check. It only took her a break to hold serve and put the Russian under pressure to get the victory. The 26-year-old didn’t feel any as she fired her 12th ace and a winner to set up game point. A wide return blew her chance that got Bencic to deuce, who had more time on the ball during the rally. Alexandrova found a way to limit time for the fifth seed, who ran into trouble on the returns and gave the Russian the game after a couple of breaks.
The two were headed into deep ground making every point crucial to secure a spot in the last four. Bencic was first to act, holding the 26-year-old to a point for the 6-5 lead. The Russian secured service to set up the tiebreak that would give the win to either one of them. Bencic got the minibreak on the third point and made it 3-1 on an error from Alexandrova. She continued to march toward the match point after nine points played. The Russian had one saved on a long return from the fifth seed, but an error from her end gave the Swiss star a hard-earned win after 2 hours and 31 minutes.
“It was super tough,” said Bencic after the match. “I’m really happy that I stayed tough today.” Alexandrova had 41 winners thrown at the Swiss star, who managed to deal with the struggles on the court after 204 points played. “I definitely don’t like playing her,” Bencic said when asked about leveling the playing field with a grass win to her name against the Russian. “There’s no rhythm, she’s an aggressive player and tough to stay in the rallies. I lost this year in Stuttgart and now I’m a winner here in Germany.”
She’ll face the winner between Garbine Muguruza and Alize Cornet on Saturday.
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