By Chris Oddo | Wednesday August 19, 2015
Eight straight wins and a mountain of confidence. Belinda Bencic is in the best form of her career in Cincinnati.
Photo Source: Christopher Levy
Current and former No. 1’s are dropping like flies, as 18-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic continues with her one-woman tennis wrecking crew, slashing her way through the summer hard-court swing in noteworthy fashion.
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Bencic notched her eighth consecutive win on Wednesday at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati. The victory also marked her 8th consecutive win over a former Top-10 player—her latest victim being former World No. 10 Flavia Pennetta, whom she defeated 6-1, 6-4.
Bencic had spent nearly all of 2015 ranked inside 30 and 40, but after a final in s’-Hertogenbosch and titles in Eastbourne and Toronto, she’s now No. 12 and carrying a five-match winning streak vs. the Top-10.
During her intimate press conference after today’s victory (Small room, 5 journalists, father standing and smiling in the back) the first question posed to Bencic came from Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times. “Do you remember how to lose?” he asked.
“I hope not,” she replied.
It would be understandable for Bencic to be on cloud-9 after taking the title in Toronto, but she’s come to Cincinnati hungry for more wins. She’s ready to lose, knows it’s coming, and yet is railing against the fact with her her biggest weapon—impeccable tennis. Bencic doesn’t want to forget how to lose—or maybe how much she resents it.
She doesn’t want to become snobby about which courts she is assigned to play on, either.
The Swiss was relegated to Court No. 4 today, a non-TV patch of Deco Turf with very little seating capacity, but Bencic—at least for now—doesn’t care where she plays.
“No it was not a tiny court,” she said. “I’m used to playing… that was a big court for me. I don’t care what court, I think all the courts are the same.”
Courts aren’t a problem. Neither is confidence.
“My confidence is very high now,” she said. “I think the highest it has ever been. I feel great on the court. Also in practice when I go there I don’t feel like I can miss a ball.”
Bencic, who did not face a single break point against Pennetta, will square off with another top-10 player in the round of 16 tomorrow when she faces Lucie Safarova.
“Today I had a great first set and of course it got a little more difficult after but I think I fought through and I was good on my serve, which I’m happy about,” she said.
Most would think that Bencic would have pressure with a quarterfinal performance at the US Open to defend and a new, shiny ranking, but she said that her title last week in Toronto means that she’s technically made up those points even before the US Open starts.
“I think I already defended [those points], so I won already,” she said. “I’m happy that I didn’t play well in [Toronto and Cincinnati] last year, so now I could win a lot of points, so it’s good.”
Another good thing: stories for children: Still excited about her recent shock upset of Serena Williams in the Toronto semifinals, Bencic admitted that the victory still feels special. “I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I’m so happy about it. I think I will never forget it. Now I can tell my kids that I can beat Serena.”
Bencic's giggly, chirpy off-court persona is refreshing, but even more refreshing is her understanding that she's in a cut-throat business that punishes those that don't have enough respect for the menacing aspect of tennis's rank-and-file.
“I don’t think now I’m No. 12 I have to beat everyone,” she said. “I think anyone can beat anyone in the WTA.”