Belinda Bencic’s (WTA 14) dream of competing in the Masters faded overnight in Guadalajara. Beaten 6-4 6-4 by Sloane Stephens (WTA 50) in the 2nd round of the WTA 1000 tournament, the St-Galloise will not see Fort Worth in 10 days.
Winner of the 2017 US Open, the American showed absolute mastery during this meeting. She won 76% of the points played behind her 1st serve to give up only 2 break points and on this occasion picked up her 1st victory of the year against a top-20 player.
Belinda Bencic conceded 4 times her serve to bow after 1h29 ‘of the match. With this final defeat, she no longer has any chance of competing in the Masters. She was in contention for one of the last 3 places available after the qualifications of Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia.
The Saint-Galloise conceded in Mexico its 18th defeat of the year in 56 games. This mixed season also led him to part with his coach Sebastian Sachs to hire the Russian Dmitry Tursunov who was at his side in Guadalajara. “With him, I get out of my comfort zone, she explains. And that’s exactly what I’m looking for“, she justified.
ats/btro