SYDNEY: Belinda Bencic said it was an “amazing feeling” after she beat 2017 runner-up Venus Williams in the first round of the Australian Open.
The unseeded 20-year-old Swiss, ranked 78th, won 6-3 7-5 on the opening day in Melbourne. She reached the top 10 as an 18-year-old but a wrist injury led her to drop to 318 in the rankings in November.
Bencic has now won 16 tour matches in a row, and 28 of her last 31, as she races back up the rankings.
“I lost to Venus four times and I tried my best to give my all today, and changed some things tactically. “I think it was a huge opportunity and I used it, so I was very relived after the match point. After the injury and the tough times it’s really an amazing feeling.”
The match had been widely viewed as the pick of the first-round draw, with Bencic’s lowly ranking no indication of the threat she posed to fifth seed and seven-times Grand Slam champion Williams.
