The Australian Open 2023, at least for another year, will remain the only Grand Slam tournament in which Camila Giorgi has not yet managed to reach the second week. The Italian player lost to No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic with a score of 6-2, 7-5.
In the first set, Giorgi never put her opponent in trouble in return and ended up losing her serve on two occasions: in the third and in the seventh game. The Swiss was good at responding blow by blow and not letting herself be bent by the accelerations of the blue.
Three breaks characterized the first part of the second set, when Bencic extended to 3-1. Right in the most important moment of the match, the Italian reacted and signed the counter break at 4-5. Bencic, however, immediately regained the lead and never wavered again.
Camila Giorgi’s words
Camila Giorgi told after the defeat: “I’m more than happy, because after eighteen weeks without playing a game I expressed a very high level. I can only be happy. In the end, when you don’t have the rhythm of the match, the matches run away from you for a few details.
I made small mistakes. I have no regrets, I gave everything on every point.” She then added: “I fought back in the second set, even though I wasn’t playing my best game at the start. I tried to be defensive in the first set, then I started pushing and playing my game.
When you play aggressive tennis, you sometimes make some more error. This is part of the game. You make more mistakes and sometimes you don’t take the game home. I am more than happy to be back here. Once again the third round was fatal? It’s something I’ve never looked into.
I repeat: I am happy to have started the year like this. I haven’t played for a long time and the preparation took only a few weeks. I didn’t have the opportunity to follow a long preseason. My goal is to try not to stop for another 3/4 months and play as many games as possible.”
