WHAT HAPPENED: Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus survived a bruising baseline battle to defeat Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Both women are unseeded and evenly matched – ranked 33rd and 38th, respectively, and both reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year – so Tuesday's first-round meeting represented a valuable opportunity for one of them to build on her summer momentum. Bencic got the early break in the first set and cruised behind aggressive play and serve returns that landed right at Sasnovich’s feet. But on a hot afternoon with an extreme-heat rule in effect, Bencic appeared irritated while falling behind 0-5 in the second and a little more flustered than her opponent in the third.
Momentum shifted immediately in the second set. Bencic asked the umpire to shush a chatty crowd on a lounge terrace overlooking Court 8, and later threw up her hands when a forklift clattered nearby. Meanwhile, Sasnovich dialed in her flat strokes. She won a six-deuce game at 3-0 with a graceful running forehand lob that found the corner. In the next game, Sasnovich saved four break points to take a 5-0 lead. Bencic got an easy hold, but Sasnovich served out the set.
Bencic left the court during the 10-minute break before the third set. In the first game, at 15-30, she had a chance for double break point. Both players ended up at the net, a rarity for the match. Bencic reflexively deflected a body blow and the ball landed in, but she missed an easy return volley while trying to find a clever angle that perhaps wasn’t necessary. At deuce, she missed a bread-and-butter backhand pass that was there for the taking. Sasnovich closed out the game with a one-two punch on her serve. While Bencic produced the more stylish tennis throughout the match, Sasnovich played the third set with more urgency and poise, and came away with the win.
WHAT IT MEANS: Sasnovich continues her impressive summer. At Wimbledon, she opened with a huge upset of two-time champ Petra Kvitova – who had been having a hot year with a tour-leading five titles – and went on to reach the fourth round, her best Grand Slam performance. She lost to the No. 12 seed, Jelena Ostapenko. Later that month, Sasnovich made the semifinals of the Moscow Cup and climbed to a career-high ranking. Her next opponent will be No. 11 seed Daria Kasatkina, who staged a third-set comeback to defeat Timea Babos.
Meanwhile, Bencic continues to seek the Slam breakthrough so many have predicted. Two years ago she became a highly touted player when she cracked the Top 10 as a teenager, on the strength of a fourth-round run at Wimbledon. Injuries have stalled her progress since then. She revived the buzz at the Australian Open this year by taking out Venus Williams in the first round, then had a quiet, injury-cursed spring until returning to the London lawns, where she lost to eventual champion Angelique Kerber.
MATCH POINT: Sasnovich hasn’t made it past the second round the US Open in four previous attempts.
