Belinda Bencic, of Switzerland, kisses the winner's trophy after defeating Simona Halep, of Romania, in the women's final at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Toronto on Sunday, August 16, 2015.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
One entered the Rogers Cup at the 11th hour and thus had to be granted a wild card, even though Simona Halep of Romania is the No. 3-ranked player in the world.
The other faced a Murderer's Row draw that began with the local favourite, Eugenie Bouchard, but ultimately Belinda Bencic of Switzerland defeated three current or former world No. 1s, including top-seeded Serena Williams, just to get to Sunday's final.
The common thread, something both players freely admitted earlier in the week, is neither entered the tournament thinking they had much of a chance to win. But there you have it – the unpredictability of sport.
At times, the match felt more like a prize fight than a tennis match, two counter-punchers trading body blows, neither putting on quite enough pressure to finish the other off.
Spurred on by a raucous crowd of flag-waving Romanian supporters, who seemed to unnerve Bencic at times, Halep fought hard to stay in the match, rallying from a 5-3 second-set deficit to force – and ultimately – win the tie-breaker and force a third set.
Halep took two medical time outs – one to cope with the effects of the scorching 29C heat – but the crowd favourite ran out of gas. Bencic had zipped to a quick 3-0 third-set lead, at which point Halep conceded defeat, retiring from the match.
Bencic, who started the week as the No. 20 player in the world and was unseeded here, will jump to No. 12 and will almost certainly be seeded among the top 16 players for the U.S. Open. The victory, by a score of 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 3-0 (ret.), also earned Bencic her biggest pay day as a professional, $456,000 (U.S.).
Bencic's win was more a function of perseverance than precise shot-making, a "mental battle" as she put it, able to gut out the key points with far less than her best stuff. But that did nothing to take away from the storybook week, in which she eliminated the fourth, fifth and first seeds (Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic and Williams) just to get to the final.
The most challenging part of Sunday's victory was finding the emotional reserves to get back on the court, less than 24 hours after eliminating Williams in three tight sets. Often, that can be a recipe for a major letdown. Good on Bencic for not letting that happen.
"For me, it's an incredible week," Bencic said. "I cannot believe it. A win is a win and I had to fight really hard today."
Williams, playing the Bencic match with a bandaged hand, after spraining her fingers against Roberta Vinci of Italy, refused to use her injury as an excuse, noting how she didn't want to take anything away from Bencic's moment in the spotlight. Instead, Williams was critical of her own play, which she described as "amateurish – not what a professional tennis player should play like."
It was only Williams's second loss in a completed match all season, but likely provided hope to the other players on the circuit that she is not invincible. If Williams wins the U.S. Open next month, she will become only the fourth women's player to complete a calendar Grand Slam.
Just before the Williams-Bencic match, Justine Henin – long retired, but one of Williams's key rivals during her playing career – had been lamenting how little faith the younger players of today had in their ability to beat Williams.
"I am surprised we don't have girls, a new generation that really say, 'Okay, the old ones, now, you go, and we take our place,'" Henin said. "I hope it's going to happen."
Bencic may be part of that new emerging generation, a rising star in a sport that could use a few more of them. At 18, Bencic is seemingly the heir apparent to Martina Hingis, who occasionally offers advice to her protégé as she climbs through the ranks.
As the first major hard court event of the summer season, there is always some rust that players must shed during an upset-filled week at the Rogers Cup. Halep, for example, lost a set at love to the defending champion, Aggie Radwanska, earlier in the tournament, but came back to win the match.
Williams also had a rocky first set in her opening match against Flavia Pennetta, losing serve four times, but also pulled out a three-setter.
By the time the U.S. Open rolls around, most of the players will have found their rhythm.
At that juncture, it will mostly come down to who can keep their heads about them and win that mental battle Bencic referenced.
Will it be Williams chasing a historic career achievement? Or the rest of the field, all trying to prevent it from happening?