Belinda Bencic defeated Anastasia Zakharova 6:1, 7:6 (3) in the round of 64 at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. The Swiss player, seeded ninth, continues her run on hard courts, where a prize fund of $9.4 million is up for grabs. Match statistics provided by api.tennis.
A confident start and a second-set tiebreak
Bencic took the first set 6:1, with Zakharova managing to win just one game. The second set was tighter, going all the way to a tiebreak, where the Swiss player came out on top 7:3 to close out the match in straight sets.
According to rank.tennis, Bencic sits 12th in the rankings with 2760 points. Zakharova is ranked 107th with 704 points, and she entered the Beijing draw unseeded.
This was the Russian player's second match in Beijing. In the previous round, she defeated Yushan Shao 6:0, 6:2. Before this tournament, Bencic played at the US Open, where she lost to Yulia Putintseva in three sets, 6:4, 5:7, 3:6. Prior to that, she beat Alexandra Eala 6:4, 6:0 in Montreal.