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Keystone
The comeback tournament in Hamburg is over for Belinda Bencic after her second match. The Olympic champion was defeated 3:6, 4:6 by Finland’s Anastasia Kulikova in the round of 16 of the ITF event.
Less than 20 hours after her convincing comeback victory after 415 days without a serious match, Bencic proved her fighting qualities against the Russian-born Kulikova (WTA 296) at the indoor tournament with prize money of 60,000 dollars. The 27-year-old from eastern Switzerland made up a break deficit in the second set, but immediately had to give up her service game again (3:4). After 80 minutes, Bencic’s first defeat as a mother was sealed.
The setback did not come as a complete surprise. “Of course I’m not yet at one hundred percent physically,” said the Olympic champion, who became the mother of a daughter in April, on Wednesday. Moreover, training and matches are two different things. That’s why it’s important for her to get plenty of match practice.
Bencic continues next week with the ITF tournament in Pétange. In Luxembourg, she will benefit from a wild card, just like in Hamburg. She will then play with the Swiss team against Serbia in the Billie Jean King Cup in Biel. After that, she wants to get as close as possible to her best form again in Australia at the beginning of next year.
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