By Chris Oddo | Tuesday March 12, 2019
Belinda Bencic rolled past top-seeded Naomi Osaka for her second win over a reigning No.1 on Tuesday at Indian Wells.
Photo Source: Sean M. Haffey/Getty
Top-seeded Naomi Osaka has been bundled out of the BNP Paribas Open out by a surging Swiss miss.
And there will be no defending champions at Indian Wells in 2019, as red-hot Belinda Bencic made sure of that by putting forth a clinical 6-3 6-1 clampdown on Stadium 2 that needed just 66 minutes to complete.
Osaka joins top-seeded Novak Djokovic, who fell to Germanys Philipp Kohlschreiber on a day that saw both top seeds go down in the desert.
The Swiss, fresh off two Fed Cup wins and a remarkable run to the Dubai title, is celebrating her 22nd birthday in style (March 10th to be precise) with another deep run and reaches her first quarter-final at Indian Wells.
Bencic set the tone early by winning four consecutive points to claim a break in the first game of the match. Osaka saved a pair of break points but couldn’t escape the fifth game of the match and was behind by a double-break before she claimed two consecutive games to close to 5-3.
But the World No.1 was broken again to close the set.
Osaka was broken five times in eight service games and could only manage a single game in the second set as Bencic poured on the pressure, hugged the baseline and kept rushing Osaka to great effect
"I definitely think we both like to take the ball early," Bencic said. "So definitely my plan today was--I mean, not just today, but I'm trying to take the ball early, trying to dictate the point myself."
Bencic has been punishing all comers here in the California desert. She has converted 17 of her 22 break points and broken serve in 17 of 27 return games (65.3%).
Bencic moves on to face fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the quarters at Indian Wells.
"I don't like to think so much ahead of the match. Sometimes I feel like the less I think on the court, the better it is," Bencic said when asked about Thursday's quarter-final. "I'm going to try not to think."
The Swiss improves to 2-1 against reigning World No.1 players and 10-6 lifetime against the Top 5.