Belinda Bencic defeated fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki 7-5 7-5 in the second round of the Rogers Cup and continued her impressive 2015. After defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the first round, the unseeded Swiss was faced with a tough task against the former world number one. She stepped up to the plate and won in straight sets in what has proven to be a breakout year for Bencic. However the Dane appeared to be struggling and after her loss would go on to say that she felt she was ‘forced to play’. Stating she would have chosen not to play had it not been for the punishments that would have come with it.
"But the rules are if you're a top-10 player, that this was my commitment tournament, you're forced to play."
Visibly struggling in the match, Wozniacki said post-match that she felt forced to play because “if you don’t, you get huge money fines” which she felt was ‘crazy’. With the Rogers Cup being a Premier Mandatory event for top players, only a legitimate injury will be an acceptable reason for withdrawing otherwise the player could face sanctions.
Not one to keep her thoughts to herself, Wozniacki previously got frustrated with media at Wimbledon earlier this year as she was asked about playing Camila Giorgi. After being asked constant questions about Giorgi, Wozniacki stated “Are we in Camila’s press conference or are we in mine?”.
As for the match itself, it was a pulsating encounter between the two with neither player looking confident on serve. With five breaks in the first set, it was Bencic who took the vital break at 5-5 and successfully served out the set. The second set was much like the first with numerous break points. Again at 5-5 Wozniacki, whose calf was heavily strapped, struggled to be clinical as she was broke again giving Bencic the chance to serve for the match. Bencic, ranked 20 in the world took her opportunity serving the match out to extend her head to head against Wozniacki to 3-1.
She goes on to face Sabine Lisicki who backed up her impressive win against Venus Williams with an equally impressive win against Czech Barbora Strycova. Wozniacki’s next tournament is set to be the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.