Very boring Bencic was eliminated in New York

Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, ranked 13th in world values, surrendered to Romanian Sorana Cirstea (30 professional player) in the qualifying match for the round of 16 of the US Open. The Swiss tennis player, who started the match so poorly and was never able to develop her game, fell without restart with a double 6-3 in just 85 minutes.

It is really unfortunate that the Senegalese player, who had such a good start to the tournament, faded away when she faced Cristea, an opponent within her reach for sure. Thus, a great opportunity to advance further in a Grand Slam tournament and stock up on precious points useful for gaining positions in the ranking vanishes.

Bencic started out winning the first two exchanges, but then incredibly split right away and found himself trailing 5-0 after just twenty minutes of play. Belinda, who committed 31 straight fouls, brought out the worst in herself, highlighting weaknesses that a player with dreams of one day winning a Grand Slam title should not.

Coached by Thomas Johansson – 2002 Australian Open winner – at the age of 33, Cirstea finds herself once again playing the quarter-finals of one of the world’s most prestigious tournaments, having already experienced the thrill of reaching this stage of the competition in 2009 at Roland Garros. Romania will face, in the next round, Karolina Muchova, ranked 10th in world values, on Tuesday.

This is Bencic’s first quarter-final defeat at Flushing Meadows, having always won on the three other occasions she has reached it so far, namely in 2014, then in 2019 and finally two years ago. Obviously, the Swiss left the stadium very disappointed. This year, the 26-year-old from Flawell was knocked out in the last 16 in Melbourne by Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and at Wimbledon by Poland’s Iga Swiatek, even when she had two matchballs at her disposal – without even tapping them. The opportunity for her in the US was really tempting, also considering Cirstea’s level, which is definitely not that of the two opponents mentioned above. But, once again, Bencic seemed to lack the technical side, especially with regard to focus and behaviour.