WHAT HAPPENED: If you glimpsed a golden glow around Belinda Bencic as she entered Louis Armstrong Stadium, chalk it up to the gold medal she brought home from Tokyo, after winning the women’s singles title in the Olympics. Her summertime success continued in Cincinnati, where she played—but ultimately lost—a quarterfinal match, that one against another Swiss Miss, Jil Teichmann.
For Bencic’s Round 1 match at the 2021 US Open, the No. 11 seed faced Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands, ranked No. 71 in the world. Rus arrived in New York having won her last 10 matches, all on clay. Less comfortable on a hard court, Rus struggled—while Bencic stayed strong and steady, taking the match with a final score of 6-4, 6-4.
Bencic’s confidence was clear from the beginning, breaking Rus in her first service game, then consolidating the break by winning her first service game at love. At age 30, Rus is both fit and fast, tracking down angles, drop shots and everything else Bencic blasted her way. But the 24-year-old gold-medal winner never faced a break point—indeed never fell behind in her service games. Bencic closed out the first set in 40 minutes with a score of 6-4.
The second set was more evenly matched, with longer, cat-and-mouse points putting the players’ athleticism on display. Although not flashy, Bencic’s superpower was her clean and controlled tennis, winning 90% of the points following a first serve as well as 88% of her net points. Bencic broke Rus to go up 3-2. Having grabbed the lead, Bencic never let go, taking the second set, 6-4.
“I’m really relaxed now,” enthused Bencic after the match about her post-Tokyo tennis. “I’m feeling really good.”
WHAT IT MEANS: For her next match, Bencic will face Italy’s Martina Trevisan, who took out American CoCo Vandeweghe, 6-1, 7-5, to advance to Round 2. Bencic will look to move one step closer toward her best US Open showing, a 2019 semifinal match, which she lost to Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, who went on to take the women’s singles title that year.
MATCH POINT: Bencic has a very special cheerleader in her camp—a countryman who goes by the name of Roger Federer. As reported widely, his text to her on the morning of her final Olympics match read: “Today is a good day to make your dreams come true.” Roger that!
