Coming from qualifying, Belinda Bencic (WTA 421) continues her journey in the WTA 500 in Adelaide. The St. Galloise benefited from the retirement of world number 14 Anna Kalinskaya in the first round of the main draw.
Belinda Bencic led 6-2 1-0 service to follow after 49 minutes of play when the Russian, quarter-finalist at the Australian Open last year, threw in the towel. Kalinskaya had called the doctor at 5-2 in the opening set to have her blood pressure checked.
Bencic, who had previously faced only one top 20 finisher (Jasmine Paolini, who beat her 6-1 6-1 on December 29 in the United Cup) since her return to competition last fall, is guaranteed to gain around a hundred additional places in the hierarchy to find themselves at the gates of the top 300.
Convincing in her first set against Anna Kalinskaya, the 2021 Olympic champion will undergo a new interesting test in the round of 16. She will face another Russian, Liudmila Samsonova (WTA 26), who won four of their five previous duels. The young mother’s only victory dates back to February 2023 in the final in Abu Dhabi, where she picked up her eighth and final title.
