Belinda Bencic battled to a much-needed 6-3 4-6 6-1 first-round win over Lauren Davis at the 2021 Australian Open.
The Swiss, 23, has not had much time to practice recently because she was one of the players forced to quarantine in her hotel room in Melbourne for two weeks to reduce the spread of Covid-19. And she has only played one match since September because she lost her opener in the Grampians Trophy warm-up event to Sorana Cirstea.
Bencic shows glimpses of quality during scrappy opener
Given these circumstances, Bencic looked understandably rusty to begin with. She made two double faults and a couple of errors as she surrendered her serve in the opening game.
However, she worked her way into the second game and put Davis under enough pressure to force her to make errors. This enabled the Swiss to break back straight away.
Both players settled a bit in the next couple of games and held serve with ease. Then Bencic made some more costly errors to drop serve again and fall 3-2 behind.
The sixth game was bizarre, as both players seemed distracted by the very loud noises of a helicopter circling overhead. At deuce, Bencic suddenly sprang into life. She punished two weak serves with winners to force two separate break points, and then seized the second with a fierce backhand that was too hot for Davis to handle.
The Swiss player struggled for consistency throughout the opening set, and the seventh game summed it up. She hit three stunning winners, two backhands and a forehand, but also made two double faults and two unforced errors. Despite the mistakes, Bencic eventually held to move 4-3 ahead.
After seven games that took more than 40 minutes to complete, the next two went by in a flash. Davis made a series of errors to hand the World No.12 a break. Then Bencic knuckled down from 15-40 on her own serve to win four straight points and hold to take the first set 6-3.
Davis digs in to level the match
Bencic fell 2-0 behind at the start of the second set due to a disastrous service game. Fortunately for her, Davis let her off the hook with an equally poor showing.
The Swiss earned two break points in game five with a series of excellent backhands. But the American saved them both by forcing her opponent to make errors. Then she won the next two points to secure the hold.
Bencic comfortably held. Then she cranked up the pressure again in game seven by hitting the ball deeper. This earned her a break point. However, much to her annoyance, Davis dug in and clung onto her serve.
After a medical time-out for the American disrupted her rhythm, the Swiss made a few errors in the next game. To her credit, she fought her way to an important hold to make it 4-4.
The set ended in surprising fashion. Davis held to love and then Bencic gifted her the decisive break by making three double faults in the space of one game.
Bencic raises her game
It did not seem to matter who served at the beginning of the decider. There were lots of long points in the first three games, which all went against the server, and Bencic fared marginally better than Davis to open a 2-1 lead.
The Swiss finally found some fluency in game four. She hit a winner and an ace during a love hold. Then the American made the mistake of allowing Bencic back into her next service game from 30-0 up and the World No.12 punished her by hitting a forehand winner on break point to establish a 4-1 lead.
Davis looked on course to reduce the deficit when she hit three winners at the start of game six. But Bencic responded in the best possible way with two aces and two winners to turn it around and hold serve.
By this stage, the Swiss player had her confidence back. She cracked three more winners to earn a break point. Then she benefitted from a Davis double fault to seal victory.
