The future of tennis faced off in St. Petersburg in the semi-finals of the inaugural WTA Premier event held in the Russian city. Starting on Monday next week Belinda Bencic and Daria Kasatkina will be the only two teens ranked among the top 50 players on the WTA tour. For one of them, Bencic, next week’s rankings will be particularly special, as the Swiss will see her name ranked in the top 10 for the first time in her young career. The Swiss becomes the 116th player to enter in the top 10 of the WTA rankings, the 5th player from her nation to reach the feat.
Good friends off court, following an increasing trend in the w0men’s tour Belinda and Daria met for the first time in the pro tour, after having faced one another in their junior careers. Belinda won 6-4 6-3 in straight sets.
Belinda Bencic started off better, breaking in the second game and taking a 2-0 lead. Failing to keep up the momentum in her favour, the Swiss started to feel the pressure put on her shoulders by the Russian, who would hardly miss a ball, sending every attacking shot back on the other side of the court, deep and angled. Starting to get frustrated, Belinda shouted in displease after firing the umpteenth forehand wide. Kasatkina came back to 2-2, and pushing with her forehand cross court also managed to take the lead for the first time in the match up 3-2.
On her service games, Daria started to perform in complete control and focus, holding easily and continuing to keep the lead in the first set up 4-3. The same security and firmness wasn’t seen in Belinda’s service game, as the Swiss hit a double fault to go behind 0-30 in the 8th game. Pushing deep with her backhand, Bencic managed to get to 30-30, but then missed another backhand in the net. Belinda saved the first break point but gave her opponent another chance hitting yet another double fault. The Swiss had to save a 3rd break point in the game and then fired a stunning backhand down the line to see her first game point. Kasatkina then missed a forehand in the net, losing the game and setting the score at 4-4.
Kasatkina fails to stay aggressive in the rallies, allowing the Swiss to find he rhythm. In the 9th game Bencic fired another stunning backhand down the line. Aggressive with her two-handed shot, Belinda managed to put pressure on her opponent. Kasatkina missed a forehand recovery long, and Bencic broke to serve for the set up 5-4.
Serving for the set Belinda played a fantastic game, hitting one after the other a backhand winner, an ace and a forehand winner to close the set 6 games to 4 in 50 minutes.
.@BelindaBencic serves out the opening set of this #LadiesTrophy Semifinal vs Kasatkina 6-4! #WTA https://t.co/ozenbXlv9B
— wta (@WTA) February 13, 2016
Kasatkina missed a chance to break in the second game of the second set, with Bencic serving. The Russian had another chance on the Swiss’ serve in the fourth game, firing two forehand return winners to lead 0-30, but once again failed to build up on her chances.
On the other hand, as soon as she had an opportunity to break, Belinda seized it in the 5th game, breaking Kasatkina and taking a 3-2 lead. Right after losing the game, Daria called a medical timeout and seemed to suffer some pain in her back. The Russian was massaged by the trainer in the lower part of her back, while Belinda entertained the crowd showing her abilities at juggling.
https://twitter.com/WTA/status/698510135535104000
Belinda confirmed the break, Daria responded holding serve to love, as the score was set at 4-3 in favour of the Swiss. Swinging freely, the Russian saw yet another opportunity to break in the 8th game, up 30-40 on Bencic’s serve. Daria missed a backhand long, missing yet another chance. Up to that point in the match, the Russian had won 1 out of 10 break points, clearly not a great stat for Daria. Belinda won the 7th game out of the 7 that went to deuce, closing it with a backhand cross court winner.
Belinda started to play more aggressive, suffocating her opponent, controlling the rallies with her backhand. The Swiss soon got to match point and won the match with Kasatkina missing her last shot long after 1 hour and 33 minutes.
In the final on Sunday Belinda will face another player who has been chasing a place in the top 10 – starting long before the Swiss appeared on the tour – Roberta Vinci, who beat Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. The two have never met before on the tour.
