Despite reaching the final round last month at Berlin's WTA 500 event and earlier this year doing the same in Adelaide, it's been somewhat of a lackluster season for Belinda Bencic. However, underneath the sizzling sun in Tokyo the Swiss player is peaking and revealing a higher level of play each time she steps onto the court donning her country's flag. On Thursday, she continued the upward trend by moving past Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3, and into the finals in her Olympic debut.
While Bencic struggled with her serve, Rybakina didn't waste time and quickly ran away with a 5-2 lead in the opening set. But Bencic was determined to prove the saying "it's not over until it's over" true and claimed three consecutive games to tie things up, saving five sets points in the process.
The opening set came down to the wire in a tiebreaker and Bencic once again showed the mental toughness and fortitude to prevail. Out of nine set tiebreakers played this year Bencic has come out on top on seven times, proving she has what it takes to come up big in pressure filled moments.
Hitting twelve double faults during the bout, Bencic's serve didn't do her any favors and ultimately led to Rybakina rallying from behind to capture the second set and push the affair to a deciding set. The semifinal match was perhaps one of the gutsiest performances this week in Tokyo as Bencic made the most of what she had against the Kazakh.
Getting broken twice in the final set, Bencic didn't let the rollercoaster of highs and lows sway her focus. Dropping her racquet, falling to the ground, tears quickly came pouring as she secured her ticket into the Olympics final. Switzerland has managed to pick up a medal in tennis since 2008 and with Bencic's spectacular fight, the trend will not end in Tokyo.
The 24-year-old will play in the biggest final of her career and will vie for gold against Marketa Vondrousova. She'll also play her second biggest final in Tokyo—having reached the gold-medal match in doubles with Viktorija Golubic. The Swiss pair will face Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, of the Czech Republic.