Rain delays and match suspensions did not bother Timea Bacsinszky. After a two-day delay, she finally got to play her first match in this year's Wimbledon against Thai qualifier, Luksika Kumkhum. The Thai is well-known for her upset over Petra Kvitova at the 2013 Australian Open and has a unique game, so, she was definitely a dangerous opponent. However, the Swiss seemed more than ready for the challenge, as she played well enough for a two set win.
Bacsinszky comes back from a break to win the first
The Thai was admittedly inspired entering the match. She has not had many chances to play in Grand Slam main draws so far in her career and she was seemed determined to make the best out of it today. The Swiss tried to step up from the first game, but the Thai held up and found some great shots. In the first four games, they were even and both held for two all. Kumkhum pushed her high ranked opponent hard in every game but she did not manage to get a break point.
After another hold, Kumkhum fired some big shots once again, mainly pressuring the week swing of the Swiss, the forehand. Like this, she managed to get the break to lead 4-2. This was when an upset seemed feasible. Though, we all know that the Swiss has been a master in terms of adapting and coming back this year. Starting to not give away any points and frustrating the Thai with her shots, Bacsinszky took the break back and tied again for four all. Then, she went on to not drop another game and close the set. As the set was going by, Kumkhum was missing more and more favoring the world number twelve.
This comeback has been seen quite a lot by Bacsinszky lately. When she gets overpowered by inspired opponents, she steps up a bit and she uses her variety to confuse them. As a matter of fact, she gets back in the score and then the inexperienced players start to miss and get blocked by her clever play.
Bacsinszky steamrolls through the second and seals the deal
The things were easier in the second part of the match for the eleventh seed. Despite finding some great groundstrokes that helped her come to the net as well, the Thai was missing a lot and that helped Bacsinszky to execute her game plan.
The set started with two holds before Bacsinszky launched the first hit as she broke in the third game. After a marathon fourth game in which she found a lot of trouble closing it, especially with some double faults during deuces, she consolidated for 3-1. The best Kumkhum managed to do was to reduce to 3-2. Since then, her opponent did not face much opposition by her and closed the match without losing another game.
The Thai was a bit messier towards the end and she thought that she could get past Bacsinszky's web with power as she did in the start. However, she failed and the Swiss had stepped up, feeling the need to close out the match early considering that she would have to play back-to-back days due to the rain delays. All in all, Kumkhum showed the world of what she is capable of in the start of the first set but she was not able to keep it up.
Stats
Although Kumkhum had the nature of the aggressive player more, the Swiss was the one with the more winners in the end, mainly because her clever plan was successful and the Thai missed a lot. Also, the world number twelve was helped a lot by her first serve percentage, which was relatively high.