Australian Open: Belinda Bencic into last 16 after gritty win over Camila Giorgi in Melbourne
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Updated 21/01/2023 at 06:33 GMT
Belinda Bencic has progressed to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2016 after a hard-fought win over Camila Giorgi on Rod Laver Arena. Giorgi’s attacking approach proved too reckless at times and the No. 12 seed made sure to capitalise. Bencic has now won 12 of her last 13 matches and her good form will aid her as she seeks her maiden Grand Slam title.
Highlights: Bencic powers past Giorgi to reach the last 16
Belinda Bencic is through to the last 16 of the Australian Open after a hard-fought 6-2 7-5 win over Italy’s Camila Giorgi.
Giorgi hit too many unforced errors and struggled on points on her second serve as Bencic went on to seal her seventh win in a row in all competitions.
The world No. 10, who won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, will play world No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka in the next round after the Belarusian beat Elise Mertens 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 15 minutes.
"You never know when she [Giorgi] can come back [in the match]," Bencic told Laura Robson in her on-court interview after the match.
"She is very explosive and very fast so to stay mentally focused all the time. Also to find this balance between putting the ball in the court and being aggressive yourself. I'm really happy it worked well. I'm really happy I got a second chance to serve it out, but overall I thought it was a great match.
"My coach was telling me to relax, sometimes it can get a little tense and you know you want to do everything a little bit better, but sometimes it's just enough to keep doing what worked and let your arms loose."
Bencic sealed the opening break of the match to move into a 2-1 lead, converting her third break point of the game after Giorgi hit a mid-court forehand long.
The Swiss player had no trouble holding her service games as she clinched the first set without conceding a break point.
Giorgi stuck to her all-out attack strategy in the second set but could not influence a change of outcome in the match. In the first game, Bencic broke Giorgi’s serve after two double faults from the Italian.
Although Giorgi hit straight back when Bencic double faulted when she faced with a break point, Bencic restored her break advantage to go 2-1 up after another wild backhand by Giorgi.
Giorgi fought hard from a losing position and she got back on serve to make it 5-5 after an unforced error from Bencic, who looked nervous as she was serving out the match. But for the third time in the set Bencic broke Giorgi's serve.
Bencic then served the match out to love to extend her head-to-head record to four wins and two loses against Giorgi, who has never reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, to 4-2.
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