Annoying bankruptcy in San Diego: Bencic surprisingly succumbs to qualifying

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Belinda Bencic (26) suffered an unexpected defeat at the WTA 500 tournament in San Diego. The Swiss lost in the first round to the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnowitsch (29) 3:6, 6:3, 2:6.

At first there is little to indicate a surprise. Bencic, the current number 15 in the world, immediately manages to make a breakthrough against number 102 in the world rankings, who reached their highest ranking a year ago at position 29. After that, the game slipped away from the Swiss, although she created more break opportunities than her opponent. The second serve in particular does not work for Bencic, most recently in a round of 16 at the US Open: she hits eight double faults and scores only a third of the points on the second serve.

For Bencic, the defeat against the qualifier is extra annoying in view of the WTA Finals, the Masters of the best eight players of the year. She is currently 11th in the season rankings and still has three more places to rise.

Golubic can’t maintain momentum

Viktorija Golubic also loses. She cannot carry the momentum from last week’s ITF tournament victory in Tokyo. The 30-year-old from Zurich had to admit defeat to unknown Frenchwoman Jessika Ponchet 4:6, 2:6 at the WTA 250 event in Osaka.

The Swiss is consistently behind a player who, as a 26-year-old, has never been in the top 100. The favorite missed the chance to get back into the match when the score was 2:4 in the second set. The Frenchwoman is 0:40 behind, but still manages to hold on to her serve.

Viktorija Golubic has been waiting for further success in the main draw of a WTA tournament since her first round victory at Wimbledon. In Osaka there would have been a good opportunity to improve the balance. Because even in the round of 16 she would have met a player outside the top 100. (SDA)

Source : Blick