Final thoughts
So, there you have it. Something of a shock on the opening day of the Australian Open, although Bencic’s ranking really isn’t indicative of where she’s at with her game at the moment.
The vanquished Venus joins Sloane Stephens, Dominika Cibulkova and Ekatarina Makarova on an already sizeable scrapheap of seeds to have gone no further than their first matches. This was already shaping to be an open women’s draw before play started this morning in Melbourne, but these results have only served to throw the tournament even wider open.
Thanks for joining me, we’ll have more from Melbourne Park later, with Rafa Nadal, Caroline Wozniacki and local hopes Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova in action. Until then.
“It would be nice to play someone easier in the first round,” says Bencic in her on-court interview with Sam Smith. The Swiss was watched by her compatriot Roger Federer’s parents in the stands today but she says there was no pressure from them, before thanking them for taking time to watch her play.
Belinda Bencic wins the second set and the match 6-3, 7-5!
Second set: Williams* 3-6, 5-6 Bencic (*denotes server): Wow! Game, set and match! Bencic does it! Her comeback to the upper echelons of the tennis tree continues apace as she despatches Venus Williams, the fifth seed and last year’s finalist at Melbourne Park! The opening point is challenged by Venus – correctly so, the ball clips the baseline! Then she fires down an ace and it looks like she’s cruising until some Bencic class tilts the pendulum once more. A forehand winner from the Swiss brings up match point and she makes no mistake!
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Second set: Williams 3-6, 5-6 Bencic* (*denotes server): Bencic shows a wealth of skill – not to mention guts – this game, sealing it with an ace to heap the pressure back onto Venus. The tension is palpable on Rod Laver Arena. Can Venus handle it?
Second set: Williams* 3-6, 5-5 Bencic (*denotes server): You sense this is an opportunity lost for Bencic as Venus holds it together – just – despite serving up a fifth double fault of the match, prompting those distinctive murmurs of uncertainty in the crowd. Anyway, Venus is still in this one.
Second set: Williams 3-6, 4-5 Bencic* (*denotes server): OK, this is it then. Bencic holds to love (with Williams smashing wide of the line at 0-40 down) and the American fifth seed must now hold her serve to stay in the tournament. The pressure is on!
Second set: Williams* 3-6, 4-4 Bencic (*denotes server): Williams is again a bit loose with her base-line shots and Bencic is able to bring up two break points. Venus does well to save the first as Bencic can only return into the net and she’s aggressive on the second as she races into the net, forcing Bencic into a lob that goes long! Both saved, and she goes on to win the next two points – and live to fight another day! That could prove to be a crucial hold.
Second set: Williams 3-6, 3-4 Bencic* (*denotes server): It’s resembling a night match, under the roof with the lights on Rod Laver Arena, as these two slug it out. Anyway, the Swiss does enough to hold again, and nose ahead as crunch time in this second set approaches. Venus can’t afford to make any mistakes now.
Second set: Williams* 3-6, 3-3 Bencic (*denotes server): The unforced errors are initially still apparent in Venus’s game but she gets over the jitters to secure her first service game of the second set. She’s first serving at 70% so far today.
Second set: Williams 3-6, 2-3 Bencic* (*denotes server): Here we go. Venus is very sloppy here and Bencic takes full advantage and control of the set with a love service game – the first time either player has been able to hold all set!
Second set: Williams* 3-6, 2-2 Bencic (*denotes server): And another! Just as she looked like she was beginning to take control of her opponent, Venus’s serve lets her down. Bencic launches a forehand winner that Venus can’t get anywhere near and we’re still all square in this second set!
Second set: Williams 3-6, 2-1 Bencic* (*denotes server): A wonderful point at 15-0 as Venus has Bencic scurrying all over the court top retrieve balls left, right and centre! It’s brilliant defensive work from the Swiss, but she can’t maintain that level for ever, and Venus finally puts the ball away at the net. Venus goes on to set up a break with a ferocious forehand winner and she looks like she means business as she edges 2-1 ahead!
Second set: Williams* 3-6, 1-1 Bencic (*denotes server): Venus is fired up once more, but also still slightly off her shot-making. Bencic looks to capitalise and manages to bring up a breakback point when Venus hits the net. She can’t take it this time – nor the second or third time as more opportunities present themselves. BUT! But on the fourth occasion, Bencic does indeed manage to break back, and we’re back on level terms.
Second set: Williams 3-6, 1-0 Bencic* (*denotes server): Bencic wobbles! She unsuccessfully queries a line call at 0-15 but she gets back into the game on the next point, with an impressive stretching backhand winner. Venus soon brings up two break points though and she takes full advantage as Bencic’s radar is off at the baseline. Venus starts strongly in this second set!
Belinda Bencic wins the first set 6-3!
First set: Williams* 3-6 Bencic (*denotes server): More superb shotmaking from Bencic, plus a wayward Venus effort at 0-30 and then another a point later, sees the Swiss take the first set! She won all six points since the rain delay as Venus struggled to pick up again. Game on!
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First set: Williams 3-5 Bencic* (*denotes server): OK, the roof is on after an interminable wait, the court is dry, the players have completed their second warm-up of the day, and we’re back up and running. Bencic comes flying out of the blocks with ace No3 of the match and then a backhand winner sees her claim this crucial eighth game! It leaves Williams to serve to stay in the first set.
The current scene in Melbourne:
The rain-moppers are out in force, on all fours and with tea-towels in hand, furiously scrubbing the Rod Laver Arena surface in a bid to keep the surface dry in anticipation of a restart.
These two have played four times previously, and Venus is yet to drop a single set. How this current game pans out once the roof is closed will have a huge bearing on whether she can keep that record – it’s shaping as a crucial one in the context of this match.
Rain stops play
It’s not a heavy downpour by all accounts, more a sprinkling. But still enough to interrupt play as the roof is closed on Rod Laver Arena.
Some light drizzle has stopped play on all courts.
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2018
It's forecast to clear up shortly but stand by for updates! #AusOpen
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First set: Williams 3-4 Bencic* (*denotes server): Anything you can do I can do better, Venus doesn’t say as she gets into a position of dominance in game eight with three break points of her own. But a see-sawing game ensues as Bencic is able to save all three of them and claw it back to deuce. She saves a fourth and before bringing up game point with a backhand winner that elicits a clenched fist and a loud “c’mon”! Venus isn’t done there though and she hits a superb backhand winner of her own before bringing up a fifth break opportunity. Bencic’s serve comes to her rescue – including a second ace of the day – and.... it’s raining. Ah, Melbourne, don’t ever change. There’ll be a brief delay while everyone figures out what to do. It’ll be deuce once we get back underway.
Upset alert! Meanwhile, over on Margaret Court Arena, the American and reigning US Open champion, Sloane Stephens is out! She’s just lost to China’s Zhang Shuai 2-6 7-6(2) 2-6 and we have our first upset of the tournament!
First set: Williams* 3-4 Bencic (*denotes server): Oh dear, how quickly things can change. Having looked pretty confident so far, Venus falls to 0-40 on her serve and despite saving the first break point, she can only find the net on the second and Bencic secures the first break of the day – at a crucial moment of this first set!
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First set: Williams 3-3 Bencic* (*denotes server): Bencic keeps things even, with Venus playing a couple of loose shots and the Swiss sealing the deal with an ace. Think that’s the first one of the match... yes, yes it is.
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First set: Williams* 3-2 Bencic (*denotes server): Venus wastes no time at all in edging ahead once more after Bencic is out on game point. The American may have played just once since reaching the WTA Finals decider in October (when she lost to Caroline Wozniacki) but she’s hit the ground running here.
First set: Williams 2-2 Bencic* (*denotes server): Bencic is brilliant at 30-15 up, countering a ferocious crosscourt Venus forehand with one of her own down the line. She lets out a roar of celebration, before going to on to hold once more. Still nothing to separate this pair, four games in.
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First set: Williams* 2-1 Bencic (*denotes server): Venus responds with a love service game of her own, one which on occasion displays the ferocity she has in her locker. Venus is seeded five at Melbourne Park this year, for those wondering.
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First set: Williams 1-1 Bencic* (*denotes server): Bencic, with a graceful service action that features a high ball toss, wins this one to love, thanks to a winner that whooshes past an approaching Venus and then a wayward effort from the American on game point. All square after two games.
First set: Williams* 1-0 Bencic (*denotes server): Williams gets to serve first up and opens a 30-0 lead before Bencic approaches the net with confidence and delivers a volleyed winner with equal aplomb. The Swiss is off target at the baseline a point later though and Venus holds to get this one up and running.
The players are all warmed up and we’re ready to get going!
Just earlier on Rod Laver, in the opening match of the day, French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko survived a brief attempted second set fightback from Francesca Schiavone to ultimately ease into the second round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over the Italian veteran.
Ostapenko and Schiavone are among a clutch of grand slam champions in action today, including Australia’s Sam Stosur and, of course, Williams. Stosur kicks off her campaign against the reigning Olympic champion, Monica Puig, later on Margaret Court Arena.
Preamble
Hello and welcome one and all! Are we really here already? It doesn’t seem that long ago that Venus Williams and her sister Serena were stepping onto Rod Laver Arena to contest the 2017 Australian Open final – a match that captured the imagination as the elder Williams sibling rolled back the years to reach her first final at Melbourne Park in 14 years.
Twelve months on, Venus, now 37, will again step out onto the blue Plexicushion surface of Melbourne Park’s showiest showcourt to begin her quest on the opening day of play to go one better. Standing in the way at the first hurdle, though, is Belinda Bencic who, at 20, you could say is at the other end of her career arc.
Still, the Swiss has been around long enough to have had time to plummet down the rankings (due to a wrist injury last year) after bursting onto the scene at the 2014 US Open (where she reached the quarters) and reaching the top 10. Since returning to the court post-surgery in September last year, she has staged something of a resurgence and enters this tournament ranked 78 in the world and off the back of Switzerland’s Hopman Cup win earlier this month in Perth.
So, not an opponent Venus will be taking lightly at all, and a match that promises entertainment for the neutral. More to come very soon, so in the meantime, I’ll just remind you to get in touch on the email (mike.hytner@theguardian.com) or the Twitter (@mike_hytner) with any thoughts on today’s match, the tournament in general or anything else you may need to get off your chest.
Mike will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Kevin Mitchell on the tennis superhero that is Roger Federer:
