Belinda Bencic acknowledges she has heard all the talk regarding her Australian Open chances but noted she is trying to “block out the noise” and focus on the tennis. Bencic, who won Adelaide 2 the week before the Australian Open, defeated Claire Liu 7-6 (3) 6-3 to progress into the third round at Melbourne Park.
Bencic has been on fire at the start of the 2023 season and many believe she is among the top favorites for the Australian Open title. “Sometimes you are feeling great. You can win the same morning and lose to the same person in the evening.
It’s always so many circumstances. It’s really difficult for me to say, ‘OK, just because now I won Adelaide, I won a few matches in a row, now suddenly I have to win the Australian Open.’ It’s nice for everybody to say she’s the favorite or she can be one of the favorites or she has a chance.
Still, every match is different. I experienced a lot of times I was feeling very good all the tournament, and suddenly comes the match and I don’t know how to play tennis anymore. I have to really focus on just what I have to do and just block out the noise outside,” Bencic said, per the WTA website.
Bencic trying to just focus on the tennis
After winning Adelaide 2, Bencic kicked off her Australian Open run with back-to-back straight-set wins over Viktoriya Tomova and Liu, respectively. Even though Bencic clinched a straight-set win over Liu, it wasn’t that easy against the 62nd-ranked American.
Liu was up by a break late in the first set and was serving for the opener at 5-3. In that ninth game, Bencic saved two consecutive break points and managed to send the set into a tie-break, where she realized her first set point to steal the opener from the American.
In the second set, Bencic lost her serve twice but broke Liu three times to still escape with a straight-set win. In her next Australian Open match, Bencic plays against Camila Giorgi.
