Belinda Bencic can hardly believe it: She is playing for Olympic gold. Image: keystone
Belinda Bencic wins thriller, is in the finals and plays for tennis gold
Belinda Bencic is in the individual finals of the Olympic tennis tournament. She has at least the silver medal for sure.
The 24-year-old from eastern Switzerland prevailed 7: 6 (7: 2), 4: 6, 6: 3 against the Kazakh Jelena Rybakina, number 20 in the world, in a real wear and tear in two and three quarters of an hour. In the final, Bencic will meet world number 6 Jelina Switolina from Ukraine or the Czech left-hander Marketa Vondrousova (WTA 42).
It was an act of absolute will on the part of Bencic. The twelfth in the world rankings is playing singles and doubles for the third day in a row, which is a steep program in view of the high temperatures in Tokyo – even if the start of the game has been postponed to 3 p.m. local time. In addition, Bencic had played three individual sets in the eighth and quarter-finals, while the eight positions poorer-ranked Kazakhstani moved into the semifinals without losing a set.
Even winning the first set was a great achievement for the Swiss woman from Eastern Switzerland. After an early 2-0 lead, she fell 5-2 behind and fended off six set balls before prevailing in a strong tie-break.
In the second set Bencic led 2-0 and 3-2, but Rybakina couldn’t be shaken off. The Swiss woman showed great difficulty with her serve at times. She made 12 double faults (6 aces), while the 1.84 m tall native of Russia was able to benefit from 14 aces. But Bencic never let himself get down.
In the decisive round she was twice behind (0: 2, 2: 3) with a break, but in the end she showed strong nerves. She won the last four games and the game with a service winner on the first match point. Only then did she let her emotions run wild. She sank to her knees and could no longer hold back the tears.
“I don’t know whether I breathed at all in the last game,” she said immediately afterwards in an interview with SRF. “I could not think clearly.” Bencic spoke of a dream coming true. “I’m overwhelmed and can’t even put it into words.” Sometimes she was at the end and had the feeling that it was no longer possible, that she had “screwed up” it. “But I came back somehow. I gave everything, that’s what makes sport. “
The match point and the emotions at Bencic. Video: SRF
Against Switolina, Bencic won two out of four games, the last she lost in the semifinals of the WTA Masters 2019 when she had to give up. Against Vondrousova, she just lost the only duel a good four months ago in Miami in three sets.
Before that, Bencic will play the doubles semi-final with Viktorija Golubic against Brazilians Laura Pigossi / Luisa Stefani on Thursday. The second medal beckons. After that, the tennis players have a well-deserved rest day on Friday. (zap / sda)
THANK YOU FOR THE ♥
Would you like to support watson and journalism? Learn more
(You will be redirected to complete the payment)
