She now faced Mirra Andreeva (7) in the quarter-final at the Championships; Andreeva, who recently shared in interviews that she is working to be more consistent in her shot-making in each tournament. She broke into the top 10 this season, and although she is only 18 years old, she is one of the few players on the women’s tour who can rely on her first serve. It’s not necessarily the most powerful stroke in her game, but it’s solid. This was their first meeting, and as the opening set progressed , there was not much separating them. They needed a tiebreak to decide the set, which was won by the Swiss player 7-6(3). The key moments for her during the set were how she managed to be consistent in returning serve and how she moved well inside the court to be aggressive in her shot-making . One of Andreeva’s better shots is the backhand down the line, while Bencic’s inside-out forehand is impressive, similar to Victoria Azarenka’s in her prime.
The second set progressed nearly the same way as the opener had. The scoreboard read 3-3 after 28 minutes. Both players played an outstanding point to bring up deuce on the scoreboard after a 14-shot rally; but Andreeva came up with good serving to hold her serve and get out of a difficult situation . Andreeva’s third break point in the match came at 3-4, 30-40, but it was Bencic this time who came up with the goods on the first serve, pushing Andreeva wide to her backhand, finishing off the point at the forecourt with a backhand winner.
Andreeva showcased her above-average volleying skills during the ninth game, but she faced two break points in that game. She couldn’t handle the scoreboard pressure when she failed to defend the second break point. Bencic was the first player to break serve in the match, and it came at a crucial stage because she served for the match in the following game at 5-4. The youngster’s defensive play really kept her in the rallies the longer they went though, and she earned herself a break point to get back on serve. She converted the break point and she held serve for 6-5.
After exactly two hours of play, the two players needed another tiebreak to decide whether the Swiss player would win the match or Andreeva would force a deciding set. In the early points of the breaker, Andreeva’s volleys were not as sharp as they had been earlier in the set; she missed two forehand volleys and was quickly down 2-5 in the tiebreak after a few other errors. She served a double fault to give Bencic four match points and Bencic only needed the first one. She was aggressive, playing with more intent, sensing that the opportunity to win the match would not present itself again after she served for the match at 5-4, if she wanted to get the job done in straight sets. She was elated when she won 7-6(3) , 7-6(2). She’s into the semi-finals for the first time in her career.
