Belinda Bencic lost 6-7 6-7 to Elena Vesnina in the second round of the 2016 Aegon International in Eastbourne, as she failed to reproduce the form that won her the title the previous year. The Swiss, 19, missed virtually the entire clay-court season with a back injury and began today’s match with heavy strapping on her right thigh after injuring it in Birmingham last week.

The injury to her thigh reduced the range of shots available to Bencic as it discouraged her from attempting many of her usual crouched-down shots. But she still had plenty of chances to win both sets and will rue those missed opportunities. Nevertheless, Vesnina played well throughout – particularly when she hit several eye-catching backhand winners – and deserved to win.

Bencic began the match well, breaking Vesnina in the opening game. However, she played a poor service game to hand the break straight back, and the match was frustrating for her from that point on. The Swiss made a series of unforced errors to hand Vesnina another break and a 4-2 lead, before she ramped up her aggression to hit harder and deeper groundstrokes and break straight back.

The next two games went with serve, but an awful start to the 10th game by Bencic gifted Vesnina two set points. The Swiss looked to her team and seemed to find resolve, drawing one error and then producing a superb all-around point to take it to deuce. Another Vesnina error gave her advantage, and she secured the hold of serve with an ace to take it to 5-5 and make a tiebreak seem inevitable.

Both players made a string of errors in the tiebreak, but there was a brief spike in quality when Bencic hit a brilliant forehand return to set herself up for a backhand winner and take it to 4-4. She then proceeded to play three poor points, culminating in a looping forehand hit way too short that gave Vesnina the chance to hit an easy forehand winner and clinch the first set 7-6 (4).

Bencic started the second set in style with a stunning backhand winner down the line, before constructing a trademark point that used her full variety of shots during an initial hold to love. The set went with serve for five games to leave Bencic up 3-2. She then played one of the best points of the match and finished it with a superb forehand winner down the line to open up a 15-30 advantage on Vesnina’s serve. Then, two errors from the Russian handed her what looked like a crucial break.

However, Bencic played a shaky first few points on serve, and Vesnina saw her chance. She powered a brilliant cross-court backhand winner to earn a break point and then followed it up with an even better backhand that forced Bencic into an error to seal the break. An awful challenge by the Swiss in the next game made her laugh and briefly seemed to relax her as she held her serve to love immediately afterward to lead 5-4.

Vesnina saved one set point with an excellent backhand winner and another with an ace when she was serving at 5-6. Bencic then made two errors, and it was time for tiebreak number two. What followed was probably the most inconsistent tiebreak the Swiss will ever play, as she made five poor errors but somehow managed four amazing points in between, hitting two backhand winners and one on her forehand side. All of this left the tiebreak nicely poised at 5-6 with Bencic serving. She double-faulted, and the match went to Vesnina. It was a fatal error at a crucial stage, and it summed up her struggles on the court.