Belinda Bencic makes her Grand Slam comeback. One and a half years after her last appearance at the US Open, she beats Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko 6:3, 7:6 (8:6) in two hours at the Australian Open.
13.01.2025, 07:53
13.01.2025, 07:58
SDA
The finish in this match between two 27-year-olds was thrilling. Belinda Bencic dominated the match until 6:3, 5:3. At 5:4 in the second set and on her own serve, she missed five match points. Jelena Ostapenko improved in this phase. The Latvian fended off all of the match points with some clean winning shots. Ostapenko equalized the score at 5:5 with her third break point.
Belinda Bencic was somewhat fortunate to prevail in the tie-break. The Swiss player led 3:1 and 4:2, but then fell behind 4:6. Ostapenko was also unable to capitalize on her two set points, and a little later the edge of the net helped Bencic to victory on her sixth match point.
Despite the drama at the end: Bencic (WTA 421) proved in Melbourne that she is already approaching her 2023 level of play again. Ostapenko, the world number 17, failed to reach the round of 16 at her preparatory tournaments in Brisbane and Adelaide, but narrowly lost to the eventual tournament winners (Marie Bouzkova and Madison Keys) at both tournaments.
In the second round on Wednesday, Bencic will face the 25-year-old Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens, the world number 80, quarter-finalist two weeks ago in Brisbane and tournament winner last fall in Osaka.
