Anett Kontaveit races past world number eight in Australian Open
Anett Kontaveit has pulled off a shock victory against world number eight Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1 in the Australian Open in Melbourne, to go through to the fourth round.
The Estonian, 24, from Tallinn, ranked 31st in the world, wrapped up the first set in just 20 minutes; 10 minutes after that she had won nine games in a row, unanswered by her opponent, who reached the U.S. Open semi-finals last September.
The next game, Bencic, 22, managed to hold her serve to take the solitary game she managed in the entire matchup; this was the first time the pair had met.
Nonetheless, statistics are not quite as one-sided: Bencic served up three aces, Kontaveit none, and made only one more double fault (four). However, while the Estonian managed to win 86 percent of her first serve points, Bencic only took 50 percent. On second service points won the disparity was even greater – 77 percent success rate to Kontaveit compared with 38 percent for the Swiss.
"I feel like everything I did worked really well and I'm so happy with that performance today."
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 25, 2020
21 winners
7 unforced errors
86% of first serve points won
Well played Anett Kontaveit, it doesn't get much better than that! #AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/n9E8cMnMq6
The match ended mid-afternoon local time, early on Saturday morning in Estonia.
Kontaveit now meets Iga Swiatek of Poland, ranked 56th in the world. The pair have met once before, in Cincinnati last year, with the Estonian prevailing 6:4, 7:6 (2).
Editor: Andrew Whyte
