Last year’s Olympic singles gold medallist Belinda Bencic came back from one set down to beat Xiyu Wang 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 at the WTA 500 tournament in Charleston.
Former Charleston semifinalist Bencic came back from the brink of defeat when she trailed 3-5 in the second set and 2-5 in the tie-break.
Wang saved a break point to hold serve at deuce in the sixth game before earning the first break of the match in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. The Chinese player held her final two service games at 30 to seal the first set 6-4.
Wang went up a break at love in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Bencic saved two break points in the seventh game to hold serve for 3-4. The Swiss player broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5, as Wang was serving for the match at 6-4 5-4. Wang earned an early mini-break on the first point of the tie-break, but Bencic came back by taking two mini-break points to win the tie-break 7-5. Bencic held on her service games and earned two breaks in the first and ninth games to seal the third set 6-3 after 2 hours and 26 minutes. Bencic will take on world number 186 Linda Fruhvirtova in the second round.
Chinese teenager Zheng Quinwen overcame Sloane Stephens 6-3 4-6 6-0 at the Credit One Charleston Open to take the biggest win of her career.
Zheng had a losing record in her previous head-to-head matches against top-50 opponents. She scored her best previous win against then-World 54 player Liudmila Samsonova in Palermo last summer.
Stephens earned an early break at love in the opening game. Zheng converted her fourth break-back point at deuce in the second game. Zheng won three consecutive games with a break in the fourth game to open up a 4-1 lead. The Chinese player held her final two service games to win the first set 6-3.
Stephens broke serve in the second game to take a 3-0 lead. Zheng converted her fourth break-back point in the seventh game to draw level to 4-4. Stephens broke for the second time in the 10th game to seal the second set 6-4. Zheng took a bagel with three breaks in the third set to seal the win after 2 hours and 2 minutes.
The match was suspended for over 30 minutes in the eighth game of the second set due to rain.
Magda Linette saved a match point to beat Katie Voleynets 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5). Linette will face last year’s US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez. Linette failed to convert her match point at 5-3 in the third set. She then saved a match point on serve at 6-5 before winning the tie-break.
Alison Riske beat Cristina McNally 7-5 6-3 to set up a match against Aryna Sabalenka. Riske won seven of the next eight games from 5-4 in the first set.
Coco Vandeweghe earned her first tour-level clay-court win in four years with a 6-3 4-6 6-3 win against Anastasia Gasanova.
