Belinda Bencic had a roller coaster opening but stayed on the ride to be victorious Monday night. The Swiss went three again with Veronika Kudermetova at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy to win 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5) at Sibur Arena. Both women combined for 151 errors and 201 points in a rivalry where Bencic took the series lead.
The two met for the seventh time and the first this season that returned them to St. Petersburg for a second matchup. Though they met in qualifications at that point, the Russian defeated Bencic to make the main draw. Their last three matches have gone the distance, and with plenty of time since their dismal losses at the Australian Open, the Swiss and Russian were ready to heat up the action. Kudermetova carried a 3-17 record when facing top 20 players in the tournament, but with a familiar opponent, the world number 29 would give the fifth seed a difficult path to tread.
Kudermetova was first to serve and nearly had Bencic blanked until her first double fault gave the Swiss a chance to overcome. She denied her that opportunity by firing an ace down the T to get out of her service game. Bencic held her end much better than the Russian, who then came into the third committing two more double faults. Though she got to deuce in an attempt to save her service, Kudermetova faltered on a return, giving the fifth seed the early break.
Bencic comfortably held serve in the fourth to back up the break yet going for the double proved harder than she thought. Kudermetova worked her way through the breaks of deuce to get her service down and stay a game within reach. Bencic held to love with considerable ease while the Russian racked up the unforced errors. The seventh looked to be going the way the fifth did with Kudermetova fighting to force deuce, with Bencic erring. She worked under the pressure to turn the tables and cause havoc for the Russian, who suffered the double break.
With the balls in her hands to serve for the match, Bencic breezed to three set points before double-faulting on the second serve. She brushed off the hiccup and put the ball across the court to see it come back as a net deflection. It was a 32-minute run where the Russian totaled 26 errors but kept the winners high and the service close to what Bencic was hitting.
She made sure to get a stronger output from her offense and hold serve to start the second set. The fifth seed responded with a rush to 40-0 but double-faulted on game point. Kudermetova made a statement when she pulled into the serve and fired back a bullet to Bencic. The Russian forced deuce but couldn’t get the break in her grip. She did manage to be the one conducting the score while being out front of the fifth seed in the set.
The tables turned as Bencic committed double faults that put a sense of frustration in her game. Knowing that the pressure was off, Kudermetova charged for the break for a second time but came up short. Every game was becoming tougher to win on both sides of the court, but they somehow remained on serve through six. The score was again even after eight, but in the ninth, Kudermetova assured herself to remain in charge and go for the break that would move them into a decider.
Bencic served to stay alive in the tenth against her opponent, who returned much better than the previous set. With that change being huge for Kudermetova, she stood across the court and watched as the fifth seed erred too much to force a third set into action. It was the fourth played between the two after what took 48 minutes gave the Russian a rush of life to her game. Both had 24 errors, but the four double faults that Bencic committed made a difference in how a game can break down.
Kudermetova took the good from what she accomplished, rolling it into the third with a good service hold. Bencic wanted to get out strong but double-faulted thrice on serve to add up to nine in the match. With a hat trick of problems to sort out, the fifth seed managed to get a point off the Russian, but it was too little too late as the break went to the hands of Kudermetova.
The Russian had her eyes set on a 3-0 run but ran into trouble with the return side of the game. She gave Bencic a chance on deuce but foiled her opportunity to get onto the board. With a four-game winning streak, Kudermetova waited for her chance to strike out another break. Despite committing a fourth double fault in the set, Bencic secured the hold that broke the Russian’s freedom of dominance.
She added a break to sit a game down of Kudermetova, who made bad choices on her type of returns. Bencic was well dug in and proved her worth by leveling the score with a hold in the sixth. With no ground left to hold, Kudermetova served for the lead in the seventh and secured it to be out in front once more. The fifth seed answered with yet another hold to make it four-all, but in the ninth, the Russian made it 5-4, destined to close out Bencic.
The Swiss played cooled and collected to press the issue with Kudermetova, who was the one to err and bring the score to five apiece. The Russian gave no indications of trouble or doubt during her service and won the 11th to sit in a spot to take the match. The Swiss star denied her that chance and shut her out to force the critical tiebreak. Bencic jumped to a 3-1 lead on Kudermetova, who returned into the tramlines causing major frustration.
The fifth seed got to 5-1 on her opponent’s issues to eventually reach match point. The Russian picked up two and saved one of them to get within two points of a tie. The margin was one when Bencic returned the ball long but caught a break when Bencic watched the ball land long near her to end 2 hours and 22 minutes.
“I’m happy I won,” Bencic said during her on-court interview. “Always with Veronika we play three sets and many times we play 7-6 in the third so yeah it was a tough first round.”
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