By Chris Oddo | Friday September 25, 2015
Belinda Bencic raced past third-seeded Garbine Muguruza and into the Tokyo quarterfinals on Friday.
Photo Soruce: Toray Pan Pacific Open
Belinda Bencic navigated a tricky first set than raced to a 7-6(1), 6-1 victory over third-seeded Garbine Muguruza in Tokyo to take her place in her fourth semifinal of 2015.
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The Swiss surrendered a break lead in the first set, and failed to capitalize on a set point with Muguruza serving at 4-5, but she did not waver and played a perfect tiebreaker to capture the opener.
After opening up a 3-0 lead in the breaker, Bencic thumped two big backhands, the second a clean crosscourt winner to stretch the advantage to 5-0. Muguruza would hit a big serve to get on the board before the changeover but the confident Swiss took the next two points, sealing the stanza with an ace out wide, and really never looked back from there.
“First set was very tight, so I expected a match like that,” Bencic said. “I think I stepped up the level and I played very good.”
Bencic, who improved to 7-2 vs. the Top-10 with her win, broke for 2-1 in the second set with a swing volley winner, then broke again for 4-1 when Muguruza dumped a forehand into the net.
Errors plagued Muguruza down the stretch. She tossed in 47 against 30 winners, while Bencic only committed 21 against 16 winners. The Swiss will next square off with either Caroline Wozniacki or Angelique Kerber.