Belinda Bencic upsets Caroline Wozniacki at the BNP Paribas Open
Swiss teen Belinda Bencic created a major upset, when she defeated fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 on Day Eight of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Monday. The former World No.1 had blanked Bencic 6-0, 6-0 in their only previous meeting in Istanbul in 2014 and was expected to make it two-out-of-two , but as she herself said after the game, it turned out to be two completely different matches in the end.
"Honestly, it was two completely different matches. I went out there today and I didn't play well at all.
“She was steady. She took the ball early as normal, and she served pretty decently, but I didn't put three balls in play today. She only had to put balls back in my court,” Wozniacki said.
Bencic was obviously elated with the victory and said that she came into the match with a fixed game plan and admitted to have let the nerves get the better of her in Istanbul last year.
“Today I really had a good game plan. I did what I had to do.In Istanbul I had maybe too much respect and I was afraid, nervous," the 18-year-old said.
Despite the loss though, Wozniacki seemed to be in good spirits and tweeted a photo of her pet on her Twitter page.
Sharapova and Bouchard advance
In other results, Second seed Maria Sharapova beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-3 in a pulsating game.
The two players broke each other’s serve in the seventh and the eighth game respectively. The Russian then went on to win the opening set in just over an hour, a marathon 10th game finishing with Azarenka mistiming a forehand, that went wide.
Sharapova took the upper hand early in the second set, thanks to an improved serve, taking a 5-1 lead before the Belarusian fought her way back into the game to make it 5-3. But that didn't stop the 27-year-old from clinching the set and the match 6-4 6-3.
Talking about her win, the 2015 Australian Open Runner-up admitted that she didn't serve as well as she would’ve liked to in the first set and had it on the back of her mind that her opponent would make her earn every single point.
"My serve let me down in the first set. I did a much better job in the second set. She will play until the last point and that's what made it so tough,” Sharapova said.
Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard also sealed a comfortable win over America’s CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3 6-2. Defending champion Flavio Pennetta also won her match against Australian Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-2. Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic, though lost to Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.