Belinda Bencic ended up breaking down in the round of 16 of the WTA 500 in Adelaide on Wednesday. The Saint-Galloise lost 7-6 (7/3) 4-6 6-4 against the Russian Liudmila Samsonova.
Bencic (WTA 421) was already on the edge of the precipice in the second set when the 26th in the world led 4-1 after winning the first set in the tie-break. But the 2021 Olympic champion lined up five consecutive games to come back to level with an opponent she had beaten in the final in Abu Dhabi in 2023.
The young mother then redoubled her efforts to snatch Samsonova’s serve at the start of the third set. She missed four chances in the first and third games before finally making it 3-3, just after saving five break points on her previous throw.
The efforts made were undoubtedly fatal when it came time to confirm her hard-earned break and the Saint-Galloise ended up losing everything, finally conceding defeat on Samsonova’s first match point.
Return to Grand Slam
Her two victories in qualifying and the one in the first round, however, will allow Bencic to gain around a hundred additional places in the WTA rankings. Enough to approach the main draw of the Australian Open, to which she will access thanks to her protected ranking, with a certain dose of confidence.
/ATS
