In 1997, Martina Hingis became the youngest World #1 of all time. She was just 16 years and five months old at the time. She became the youngest major winner at the Australian Open that year when she captured her first major title without losing a set. She would go on to reach the final of Roland Garros and win the Wimbledon championships and the US Open. This made her the holder of three of the four major championships in tennis at just 16 years of age. Perhaps by fate, 1997 was the year Belinda Bencic was born as well.
Bencic, an 18-year-old, is a Swiss player with Czechoslovak origins, just like Hingis herself. She was mentored by Hingis’ mother, Melanie Molitor, from a young age. By 2013, she was the dominant junior player having swept the Girls Singles titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The transition to the pro tour came a lot easier than some would expect.
She qualified for the Australian Open in 2014, reaching the second round and losing to eventual champion Li Na. She was blown out in the first set but made Li fight in the second. This was the last time she would need to qualify for a major. She truly announced herself to the WTA tour in Charleston that year when she showed off her stunning and deceptive backhand in taking out Sara Errani 4-6 6-2 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Although she would lose a heartbreaker in the semifinals to Jana Cepelova, it was a sign of things to come.
She continued to make progress in the majors, reaching the third round of Wimbledon losing to Simona Halep, and the quarterfinals of the US Open losing to Peng Shuai. The quarterfinal run of the US Open saw her take out two top 10 players, Angelique Kerber and Jelena Jankovic, en route.
The beginning of 2015 was a series of struggles for Bencic as she struggled to win matches for the first few months of the season. She turned it around at Indian Wells, upsetting Caroline Wozniacki in the third round. She would lose a thrilling three set match to Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round but she did not let that halt her progress. The grass season saw great strides for her, as she reached the finals of Rosmalen, avenging her loss to Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals. She captured her maiden WTA title in Eastbourne, taking out Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwanska along the way. She would lose in the fourth round of Wimbledon to former #1 Victoria Azarenka.
Unseeded in Toronto, very little was expected of her last week. As a result she happily flew under the radar as she took out Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, Sabine Lisicki, and Ana Ivanovic en route to a semifinal clash with Serena Williams. The third round against Lisicki saw her save a match point with a clutch volley. Williams, who had only one loss on record in 2015, raced out to a 5-1 lead. She seemed to get rattled at the deceptiveness of her opponent despite eventually winning the set 6-3. But Bencic showed grit far beyond that of an ordinary 18-year-old to win the match and hand Serena only her second defeat of 2015. She would face off against yet another Grand Slam finalist in Simona Halep in the final. It was a match of strange atmosphere as world #3 showed a series of nagging injuries throughout the match, as evidenced by the multitude of times she called the trainer. The latter was able to use every ounce of energy she had left in the tank to force a decider but it was not meant to be as the Romanian retired down 0-3 in the final set.
Let us not use the misfortune of Simona Halep to discredit the remarkable achievement of young Belinda Bencic. In the modern game, we see a tour that is dominated by veterans; to see a young player play with such poise is a breath of fresh air. She draws us back to the days of Martina Hingis when she took on players with more power and experience with no fear. What she lacked in power, she more than made up with in unparalleled court sense and ability to take the ball early and change direction of the rally. Bencic brings something very similar to the table, whether she will make the same impact on tour as Hingis remains to be seen but I wouldn’t bet against her.
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