Belinda Bencic unexpectedly lost her second round game on Wednesday. After taking out Venus Williams in the first round, Bencic only played four games in the match against Thai Luksika Kumkhum.
There are two relatively simple findings in international women’s tennis these days. Number one is: nothing is impossible. And number two, everybody can beat anybody any day. Belinda Bencic, too, can prototypically be held responsible for this.
On Monday she landed the biggest Australian Open-Coup ever – with the fall of last year’s finalist Venus Williams, two days later she flew out of the tournament. On the wrong side of the surprise numbers, as a 1:6,3:6 loser against the Thai Luksika Kumkhum, number 124 in the WTA World Ranking.
And there was nothing, absolutely nothing at all to object to this defeat, it had nothing to do with bad luck or misfortune. Kumkhum, a potential player who rarely plays major tournaments and travels little, was by far the better power on the Grand Slam Court.
She almost had the King Midas touch on her bat: whatever she did turned into gold in her hands. 30 direct win points she produced in just 76 minutes, even in aggressive poses on the net.”There was nothing to be done. She was much better, I have to check that out,”Bencic said afterwards.
She viewed her appearance at the Australian Open at the moment of this defeat in a broader context – in connection with the comeback after her wrist injury. I’m way above my own expectations,”said the 20-year-old,” I’m back in the top 70 after the tournament. I wouldn’t have dreamt of that.”
In fact, Bencic has only lost five of her 34 games since returning to work, including the match against Kumkhum. In the old year, however, she even won series of tournaments, albeit only the second and third category of the industry. The duel with the Thai woman was in a way a copy of Bencic’s first appearance – only with the opposite sign.
Just as Bencic had gone to work fearlessly and courageously against co-favorite Williams, Kumkhum was just as fearless in the second round test,”I was always on the defensive and came under pressure. I didn’t get to raise my game,”Bencic said afterwards.
On the course, Bencic could not hide her frustration for long. Early on, she threw her racket around in the court and later even broke the racket and was warned by the referee. But even the outgoing anger didn’t cause a turnaround, it remained with the one-way street tennis against Bencic.
Bencic will play a tournament in Taipei before the Fed Cup match in Prague against the Czech Republic. Later, after the international match, there will be appearances at the competitions in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami:”I am going into the next few weeks with a lot of confidence,”Bencic said,”this defeat will certainly not knock me down.”
Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki, the runners-up in the world rankings, delivered a special kind of Grand Slam escapade: After a 1:5 and 15:40 deficit in the third set, the Dane turned her match against the Croatian Jana Fett (WTA 119) over and overjoyed to win 3:6,6:2 and 7:5. Which brings us back to where we started. Nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible.