Belinda Bencic defeated Czech Tereza Smitkova 7-5 6-4 on her Washington debut to move into the second round. 

Playing her first match in almost a month since losing to Victoria Azarenka at Wimbledon, this was the first time she had faced Smitkova. However she won a tight first set in which both players were serving well with the only break coming at 5-5 allowing Bencic to serve the first set out taking it 7-5.

The second set started much like the first set ended with the third seed breaking in the first game. With both players exchanging one break each it was down to the Swiss to serve for the match at 5-4, doing so with ease.

Bencic hopes to continue her good form

Bencic will head into the US series with the comfort of knowledge that she doesn’t have too many points to defend for the rest of the year. After a poor US series last year leading up to the US Open she has the opportunity to build her ranking and improve her seed for Flushing Meadows. She is set to face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round after the Russian beat Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets.  Bencic leads the head-to-head 1-0 after beating Pavlyuchenkova 2-1 in Rome back in May.

This was Bencic’s 25th win of 2015 in what is proving to be another great year for the 18 year old. After winning her first title in Eastbourne back in June she will feel that she is more than capable of replicating that this week as the third seed.

This match continued what has turned out to be a difficult year for Tereza Smitkova. After an impressive 2014 on the ITF circuit, the 20 year-old Czech would've hoped for an easier transition onto the WTA tour this year but has now seen nine first round losses at WTA events.

Bencic is also competing in doubles this week with Kristina Mladenovic in which they both enjoyed a first round win against Irina Begu and Coco Vandeweghe 7-5 6-2. They will face the winners of Sanaz Marand/Taylor Townsend v Hiroko Kuwata/Chieh-Yu Hsu.

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