Seventh seed Belinda Bencic kicked off her 2016 season in emphatic style on Monday afternoon, storming past Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2 to book her place in the second round of the 2016 Brisbane International. Bencic will play American qualifier Samantha Crawford next, who defeated Australian wildcard Priscilla Hon in her opener.

Bencic Takes First Set with Relative Ease

The match began rather competitively with both women matching each other stroke for stroke, refusing to give the other the edge. However, after three consecutive breaks of serve to begin the match, Bencic began to find her groove. Countering Errani's heavy top spin ground strokes with sharp angles and quick changes in direction, the 18-year-old held at love to consolidate the early break, and followed it up with another break against a seemingly helpless Errani. Another hold of serve followed suit - this time at love, and Bencic asserted her dominance with a third break of serve, thus securing the opening set 6-1 with a big forehand drive volley winner.

Bencic Overcomes Minor Blips on Serve; Secures Straight Sets Victory

The second set began in significant contrast to the end of the first. Taking the initiative to dictate early in the rallies, Errani broke after running down a forehand drop volley that had landed too deep into the service box, consequently opening the set with a break of serve. Unfortunately for the Italian, her success was short lived; Bencic broke straight back before consolidating the break at love to edge her nose back in front. Another trio of breaks followed suit before Bencic put her foot down on the gas once she broke for a 4-2 advantage. From there, the Swiss number one seemed unstoppable. Shortly after holding at love, the Swiss number two sealed the win with a forehand winner down the line, one of the many keys to her victory against Errani on Monday afternoon. With a 6-1, 6-2 win, Bencic has begun her 2016 season with a bang, a big contrast to her 2015 season when she started the year with two defeats and no victories down under.

A Look at the Final Match Statistics

Bencic's final match statistics do not look overwhelmingly impressive, but they are a country mile better than the ones Errani accumulated over the course of the match. Breaking eight of twelve times, the Swiss number two was able to win 66% of the points behind her first serve, and 53% of the points behind her second delivery, while her Italian counterpart never held once, and only won 32% and 8% of points behind her first and second serves.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Max Gao
Max Gao is a sports writer specializing in tennis and the Toronto Blue Jays, who has also written on the Rogers Cup website as a guest contributor in the past.