The duel between the young moms ends messily. Belinda Bencic reaches the round of 16 at the Australian Open against Naomi Osaka because the Japanese player has to retire injured after the first set.
17.01.2025, 19:00
SDA
What do you say as a winner in such a case? You don't have many options. Under no circumstances should you be too happy about your victory in public. In short: "You don't want to win like that!"
Belinda Bencic said the same thing in the on-court interview after Naomi Osaka initially went to her chair after the tiebreak, but then switched to Bencic's side and told the player from Eastern Switzerland that she could no longer continue playing.
Questions instead of answers
Bencic had expected the match against the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner (twice at the US Open and twice at the Australian Open), who had also become the mother of a daughter nine months before her, to provide her with further insights. Instead, the match raised questions.
Osaka's comeback, which was launched twelve months ago, never seemed to go as smoothly as Bencic's at any stage. And just when Osaka finally seemed to be getting back to her old form, she was stopped by injury (abdominal pain).
The questions Bencic has in the back of her mind: Could she have prevailed against a fit Osaka? Is she also threatened with setbacks on her return, as the Japanese player is now?
"Never expected"
For now, however, Bencic is "just happy" with how her comeback is going. "I never expected to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open. But that doesn't mean I'm raising my expectations now."
The fact is that Bencic started the match against Osaka strongly and earned four game points to take a 2:0 lead, but the Japanese player then dominated the match until the score was 5:2. Bencic had to run more and make a huge effort to stay in the set. Then Osaka's difficulties shook up the course of the match: she led 5:3, 30:0 on her own serve before losing ten rallies in a row. The problems were particularly evident on her serve.
A good omen?
Osaka retired injured for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament. Bencic, for her part, progressed without a fight at the US Open in 2019, also in the 3rd round against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. Back then, the player from eastern Switzerland reached the semi-finals with victories against the world number one and title holder Osaka (7:5, 6:4) and Croatia's Donna Vekic (7:6, 6:3) - her best Grand Slam result to date.
Perhaps this is a good omen. Just like against Osaka back then, Bencic will once again face an absolute top opponent. Coco Gauff (WTA 3) was already ranked No. 2 in the world, won the US Open in 2023 and the last major WTA tournament of last season, the Finals, in November. Like Bencic, she did not lose a set during the first week of the tournament in Melbourne and most recently defeated Canada's Leylah Fernandez 6:2, 6:4.
