Mallorca Open: Bencic defeats Anisimova in straight sets
Belinda Bencic continued her success with another victory at the Mallorca Open on Friday. Staying tough against a tired Amanda Anisimova allowed her to dictate a 6-2, 6-2 win on Pista Central at the Santa Ponza Country Club.
This marked a first matchup between the Swiss superstar and the American teen with different talents of making their presence known in tournaments. Anisimova once again showed her tenacity in a straight sets win over the French veteran.
Her push for a second title has been more than noticed after making it to the semifinals at Roland Garros. With the transition working out just fine for the American, it put Bencic on notice to come out swinging and keep her emotions in check. The 22-year-old got lucky when Shelby Rogers suddenly called it quits during the second set giving her time to recover and prep for another fight on court.
Bencic opened the match with a break to love but was answered by Anisimova with a break back giving Bencic a point in the second. A hold in the third gave the American a good foothold to prepare for what the 22-year old brought.
Holding serve in the fourth is how Bencic responded and gaining another break from Anisimova was a key reward for the lead change. The fifth seed broke back but sitting two games down gave Bencic a chance to recover and clinch a double break.
The American avoided it in the seventh scoring a crosscourt winning return to force deuce. Bencic didn’t let that or the crowd distract her as she gained the first AD point before securing the 5-2 hold. Serving for the set, Bencic kept the American back before setting things up for set point which went awry as the American scored a good win to force deuce.
The Swiss star didn’t worry about it and found her first chance with the AD point to close the set in 28 minutes. Anisimova was out of sorts during the break and called down her coach Jaime Cortes to soothe her emotions and try to get her back into the match.
She struggled with fatigue on serve but errors from Bencic got her to deuce in the first. Unable to get the AD point on her own, the 17-year-old gained a chance on a Bencic error before scoring an ace to hold serve.
The 22-year-old matched the American teen with her hold in the second while eyeing her moment to break. It came on a troubling service from Anisimova who double faulted a third time in the set and six overall.
She put that game behind her notching a break back in the fourth but limped when she returned to service. It gave Bencic another easy victory as Ansimova committed two more doubles in the fifth.
It was the point where the third seed had a good grip of the set and eyed the match clearly in front of her.
She took the next two games with a break in hand to serve for a spot in the semifinal in the eighth. She faced a final dash of adversity from the American who forced deuce but like the other times failed to lock down the AD point.
A Bencic winner gave her a second attempt which came on a beautiful ace to reach for more after one hour and two minutes.
“I felt really good on my serve,” said Bencic after the match.
“I think it helped me a lot and she was difficult to play having won just two shots and was very happy to have stayed tough.”
She’ll need all of it facing the winner between Caroline Garcia and Angelique Kerber in Saturday’s pivotal semifinal.