Belinda Bencic continued where she left off in Toronto, defeating Angelique Kerber in a rare battle of world number 11 - 12 in the first round of a tournament. The 18-year-old won 7-5, 6-3, which was her seventh win in a row.
Great start from Bencic, Kerber claws back but Bencic eventually wins first set
Before the match, Belinda Bencic won the toss and elected to receive. This meant Angelique Kerber would have to start the match with her serve. After a four minute game, the German managed to hold. If the first game of the match was any indication that this match was going to be a physical battle, this could be quite a match. Almost every rally was more than ten strokes and both players had the other running from side-to-side.
Despite winning in Toronto less than 48 hours prior to this encounter, Bencic looked fresh and maybe even a little fresher than Kerber. The young Swiss held and broke the German's serve to get to an early 2-1 lead in the first set. With Kerber spraying balls all over the place, Bencic quickly found herself up 3-1. Taking it to the world number 11 with her second serve returns, the 18-year-old set up a break point which she converted at the second time of asking. Up 4-1 in the first set, the young Swiss Miss found herself down 0-40 but she won five points in a row to hold serve. She denied the German her first break of serve of the match. Could this be a clinical win for the Swiss after a fantastic week in Toronto?
Having lost the last five games of the match, Kerber desperately needed a hold of serve and she got it. She now trailed 2-5 and made Bencic serve out the set. With new balls, the German number one was able to hit cleaner strikes, setting up two break points. This time, she made no mistake as she converted her first opportunity. Kerber consolidated that game and all eyes were on the current Rogers Cup champion. Could she close out this set?
Unfortunately for Bencic, she couldn't. Beaming with confidence now, Kerber used her signature forehand down the line to great effect to get the last break of serve. At this point, all the momentum looked to be on the German's side. However, just as she did in Toronto, the Swiss never let up. Breaking to 15 in the next game, she was going to attempt to serve out the first set for the third time. Third time lucky it was for Bencic as she held to take the opening set, 7-5. The biggest difference at the end of that set was the unforced errors count, as shown in the first set statistics. Both women struck 15 winners but Bencic hit only 15 unforced errors to Kerber's 20. That difference cost the German the set.
Tug of war for the second set goes the way of Belinda Bencic
On the changeover between the first and second set, Kerber called for her coach Torben Beltz to come onto court to give her some advice. During their conversation, the German was heard to have said "My tennis is gone." in German multiple times. The Stanford champion sounded like she had lost a lot of confidence in herself but she has won seven of her last eight matches, coming into the Western & Southern Open.
The German's confidence wasn't going to improve any time soon as Bencic broke her serve in the opening game on a double fault. Now desperate to get the break back, Kerber continued to hit unforced errors and as a result, she gave her younger counterpart a lot of free points. Bencic held and led 2-0. Now on a four game losing streak, Kerber needed to hold to stay in contention. She ended up doing so but the German began to show signs of fatigue from that point until the end of the match. For the next two games, both women held their serve until Bencic served at 3-2. On her third break point opportunity, Kerber took advantage of a poor drop shot from the Swiss to break back. At 3-all in the second set, it proved to be the deciding point in this match.
The German had three game points but hit two consecutive drop shots that landed on her side, as well as a double fault to get to deuce. From there, the 18-year-old pounced. Setting up a break point for herself, the new Swiss number one took it at the first time of asking. Up a set and 4-3 now, Bencic had to save two break points with some very precise ground strokes. On a game point, she hit a stunning backhand angled passing shot winner to go up 5-3.
She was now in the ascendancy and looked to be en route to winning her seventh match in the last eight days. On her first match point, she didn't even need to hit the ball as Kerber double faulted, gifting her the match by a score line of 7-5, 6-3. This is Bencic's sixth win over a top 15 player in a row. She is definitely the one to beat on the American hard courts right now.