Entering into the match, none of Belinda Bencic and Daria Kasatkina’s previous five encounters had been pushed to a deciding set. In their sixth match, at the Adelaide International 2 final on Saturday, the theme continued as Bencic imposed herself on her opponent. After merely an hour and seven minutes of play, Bencic defeated Kasatkina 6-0, 6-2 to win the title.
Bencic’s dominance remained throughout the match. In the first set, the Swiss won 90% of her first-serve points and 75% return points on her opponent’s first serve. Bencic also won 75% return points on the fifth seed’s second serve in the set. In the second set, Bencic’s first-serve points won reduced marginally to 87% even as Kasatkina was able to win 52% of her first-serve points.
The eighth seed didn’t face a single break point in the match while going on to break Kasatkina’s serve five times.
Adelaide International 2: Belinda Bencic’s lead-up glory
Speaking after her win, Bencic shared, “I’m happy I could show my work here on the court. I thought I played some great matches from the start of the tournament and also against different kind of opponents so I really could test myself out there in every way and just go confidently into the Australian Open.”
Earlier on Friday, both Bencic and Kasatkina received a walkover in their respective semi-finals against Veronika Kudermetova and Paula Badosa. On Saturday, the Spaniard announced that she wouldn’t be playing the Australian Open on account of the injury – to her right thigh – she’d sustained in Adelaide.
Meanwhile, the Adelaide International 2’s the seventh WTA title Belinda Bencic’s won in her career up to now. The win will also see her make her return to the top-10 of the women’s singles rankings after almost two years, since 2020. At Melbourne Park, Bencic will play Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova. Daria Kasatkina, seeded eighth, will play Varvara Gracheva.