BNP Paribas Open: Belinda Bencic rallies back to R16 with a strong win over Ekaterina Alexandrova

Belinda Bencic continued her powerful performance to win at the BNP Paribas Open. The Swiss star had some small hiccups but took care of Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to score her eighth match win in a row on Stadium Four at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The serious amount of focus on court had her back into the fourth round for the first time in four years.

After her major upset of Caroline Wozniacki Saturday, the 24-year-old Russian eyed the possibility of taking down another top 25 player consecutively. Though she never faced Bencic before, it was a showdown of young tennis stars with one heavily experienced.

The Swiss star captured her seventh match win in a row making her a dangerous player left in the draw. With nothing to lose and every element of her game still firing right, the newly 22-year-old looked to bring an end to the Russian’s debut in the desert. A win would return Bencic to the round of 16 which she made back in 2015.

She witnessed a fast start from Alexandrova who challenged very early but followed it up with three solid winners to hold Bencic to love. The Swiss player had a tough service game but held the Russian back before firing back big with a break to love for the lead. Alexandrova broke back to level it back making the pace one to hold on to. Bencic had other ideas and after securing the double break, she held the sixth to try and open up a margin.

Alexandrova managed to hold on serve in the seventh giving Bencic very little to see her way closer to the set. Bencic stepped ahead to take a 5-3 stance but the Russian was not done showing her determination to keep going. She seized the ninth before going on the defensive to avoid Bencic ending the first. She gained a break point chance but a wide return to end a long rally brought things to deuce. After three breaks, the resilience of Bencic saving six breaks ended with the ball landing slightly long to give her the win after 37 minutes.

The 23rd seed wasn’t going to slow down and proved it with a break of the Russian up and comer before consolidating the hold thereafter. She fell behind with some errors in the third that easily handed the Swiss star a double break and 3-0 score. Alexandrova almost had a break in hand in the fourth but let Bencic back to force deuce.

The 22-year-old contained enough control to pressure Alexandrova who couldn’t get the ball to land inside. Bencic also had a shot but couldn’t score the point giving the Russian one more that clinched it on a pop up that was returned for a smash.

With the shutout put to rest, Alexandrova made her move to close the margin but key errors and a double fault made it a 4-1 hold for the Swiss. Bencic got back to serve in the sixth where she beat down Alexandrova who struggled to get back on track.

The 24-year-old rallied to deuce with sudden winners down the line before another clinched a break win. Her efforts were once again quenched as she blew her serve which gave Bencic a key break to give the 23rd seed a 5-2 command with a shot at serving for the match.

Two winners got Bencic in position for an easy win that helped her cross the line with two match points. The Swiss star made it to the fourth round with a final blow to Alexandrova that went into the net on a crosscourt ending her tournament while extending Bencic’s run after one hour and six minutes.

Belinda Bencic into the last 16 in Indian Wells with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova. BB won her last 8 matches 🔥

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) March 12, 2019

“I don’t believe I dictated play,” Bencic said after the match. “I think she is a very hard hitter. She plays very flat so it was very difficult and I think my serve helped me a lot today.” When asked about her massive comeback since two seasons back the 22-year-old held nothing back. “There’s really no secret,” she said. “After the injuries, I tried to get back to being healthy and try to put in the hard work and I think it doesn’t show right away so I had to be patient and the hard work paid off later.”

She’ll try to keep it up as she faces a major hurdle going against either Danielle Collins and world number one Naomi Osaka on Wednesday.