Charleston (USA) – Current WTA 500 champion in Charleston, Belinda Bencic started her tournament title defense very well on green clay. The Swiss, world number 11, needed only 1 hour to beat the Canadian in quality Katherine Sebov, 148th place, with partials of 6/0 and 6/3.

Dominating in the first set, Bencic had seven winning shots and only committed two unforced errors. She earned three breaks and conceded only four points in her service games. From the opening of the second set, the Swiss got another break. And despite the improvement of the Canadian in the match, the Swiss continued to serve very well. Throughout the partial, he conceded only one point on serve and there was still time for a break before closing the match. Bencic led the winners 13-10 and committed just 5 errors to the rival’s 14.

Bencic faces 44th-ranked North American Shelby Rogers in the round of 16, who won a North American duel against guest Caty McNally by 6/7 (4-7), 7/5 and 6/1. Switzerland leads the history of confrontations against Rogers by 5 to 1. The reunion takes place at the end of the afternoon of this Thursday.

Another tennis player who qualified in Wednesday’s night session is Poland’s Magda Linette, seeded 8 in the tournament and an Australian Open semi-finalist. The current 19th in the standings fought for almost 3 hours to beat the Russian Varvara Gracheva, 46th, 6/7 (3-7), 7/5 and 6/4. Linette takes on the North American Madison Keys at 8 p.m. this Thursday.

Full octave tour this Thursday
All the round of 16 are scheduled for Thursday. The program starts at noon (from Brasilia) with two matches. In the main stadium, Paula Badosa of Spain faces off against Diana Shnaider of Russia, while Victoria Azarenka and Anna Kalinskaya face off on the Althea Gibson court. The top seeds also play in the afternoon. Tunisian Ons Jabeur will face local guest Caroline Dolehide, then American Jessica Pegula will be challenged by Romanian Irina Begu.

Check out the schedule for this Thursday in Charleston.

Stadium – 12 p.m.
[12]Paula Badosa (ESP) against. Diana Shnaider
[2]Ons Jabeur (TUN) vs. [C]Caroline Dolehide (USA)
[1]Jessica Pegula (USA) vs. [15]Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM)
Shelby Rogers (USA) vs. [4]Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Not before 8 p.m.
[8]Magda Linette (POL) vs. [9]Madison Keys (USA)

Althea Gibson – 12 p.m.
[6]Victoria Azarenka vs. Anna Kalinskaya
Julia Grabher (AUT) vs. [7]Ekaterina Alexandrova
[3]Daria Kasatkina vs. Bernarda Pera (USA)