Amanda Anisimova marches into round three with straight sets over Belinda Bencic

Amanda Anisimova works the forehand during her second-round match with Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open. 

Belinda Bencic fell short of the mark to advance at the Australian Open Wednesday. American Amanda Anisimova handled the tactics of her opponent to win 6-2, 7-5 on Kia Arena at Melbourne Park. It was the first win against the seeded Swiss star, who had a muscle issue and plenty more. 

The two faced one another three years ago on the grass courts where Bencic handled the American with ease. Both had a handle of being on the hard courts, but while the Swiss star had ease of dispatching Kristina Mladenovic, the same couldn’t be said for Anisimova. Arianne Hartono gave the 21-year-old a whirl in the opening before conducting a way to get through it. Taking on Bencic is a new set of business that would take a lot of attention against the Olympic gold medalist. 

Bencic proved her worth early, breaking Anisimova to love in the opening game. The 20-year-old American responded with a point-by-point fight that led her to a breakpoint chance. Bencic forced deuce but struggled to contain the AD point. Anisimova gained three more to break back and take control of her service. Bencic stayed tight and held the fourth, but saw that Anisimova was in a new gear. She comfortably held the fifth and broke Bencic, who was becoming frustrated with her response. 

The American sat up 5-2 on the 22^nd seed, who was trying to contain her service in the eight but was forced to deuce on a forehand error into the net. With her third double fault and a returned error, Bencic gifted the set in the shape of her fourth double fault ending 35 minutes. Anisimova had double the winners than her opponent and made fewer errors. With the double faults being a major downfall in the set, the Swiss star had to adjust quickly. 

After taking a short break off the court, Bencic returned to Anisimova rushing through her service game giving one point up. The Swiss star wasn’t that lucky to ease through her game and fought back from 15-40 down. Saving breakpoints, the 22^nd seed forced deuce and played three breaks to hold. Things calmed down and sped up with the two of them holding the third and fourth games. They broke one another in the next pair and went back to holds of serve. 

Bencic shut out Anisimova in the eighth, but the American had her ways of winning to lead 5-4. The Swiss star served to keep the set alive and forced three straight errors from the American to press things forward. Anisimova dealt an ace and forced the errors needed to go up 6-5. When it came time for her to try to get the match, the American handled a tricky play for the first point and took two on errors from Bencic. 

The Swiss delivered an ace to save one match point and watched as Anisimova hit one too far from inside the baseline. The American handled an ace like a pro and brought up a third attempt that went in for a crosscourt winner. The victory took the 20-year-old 1 hour and 28 minutes to complete putting her back into the round of 32 for the first time in two years.