Belinda Bencic was once again unstoppable at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship Friday night. The Swiss star clinched her third top ten win in a row and denied Elina Svitolina a third title defense with a stunning three-set score 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) on center court at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Stadium. The victory clinches her a chance to move into the top 30 for the first time in years.
This match meant a lot for the two of them as they haven’t met in five years let alone on the hard court. With one running through the tournament with nothing to lose and the other sitting close to a third straight title defense, the match was a critical one for both careers. Four years have gone by since a player in the WTA won three titles in a row at a single tournament putting Svitolina in a serious position to join a small group of players.
Bencic’s third appearance is becoming one she’ll never forget after pulling off big upsets against the world number nine and number two consecutively. In a season that has been a major improvement since 2015, the Swiss star would try to make it three upsets with the world number six standing in her way.
She didn’t let that bother her going after the breakpoint in the first. Though she had to play deuce, Bencic got through it to gain the first AD point. She delivered a serve to love gaining a footing against Svitolina who didn’t look comfortable yet. She held firmly to get on track in the set and dug into the fourth to hunt down a break chance. Bencic denied her that chance playing very good offensive tennis to stay two games up on the Ukrainian.
She attacked the serve of Svitolina that soon opened the gap wide causing the sixth seed to call out Andrew Bettles who told her what was going wrong and what to do to correct it. Bencic continued on with her task of opening up the court with tremendous ball strikes and accuracy. She took a commanding 5-1 lead that had the defending champion in trouble serving in the seventh. She managed a strong service game that shutout Bencic but there was a lot of ground to make up.
Bencic denied her that opportunity as she gained three set points to hold two of them ending a remarkable set for the 21-year-old in 27 minutes. She devastated the second serve of the Ukrainian who won 14 percent of points from it and was outscored 26-16. Bencic had eight winners that were her in form with her first and second service that had everything going the right way.
She came into the second easily recording return winners against the sixth seed who couldn’t let it continue. She broke back to love in the second before defending her serve in the third holding the first AD point. With a small letdown of power, the Swiss star called down her father and coach Ivan to keep her well rounded and focused on through every point. She held to even the score but watched the control slowly slip from her fingers.
A successive hold from Svitolina in the fifth soon let to a troubling service gave that saw Bencic commit a second double fault. It gave the Ukrainian triple break points making sure to secure the 4-2 lead. With some concern in the face of Bencic, she tried to rally back on the break back chance and got it to get back within reach. Svitolina called down Bettles who told her that she had to commit to taking control and contain a zone to increase the first serve percentage. A third straight break went into the hands of the 24-year-old who clearly had the momentum with a 5-3 stance in hand to serve for the set.
Svitolina made sure to lock down the set landing two aces but had to go to deuce to get it done. Two were in the books after an hour of play with a third going into action. Bencic’s first serve was all but out causing her enormous stress after it was over. During the set break, a slight confusion occurred when Bencic was denied a coaching call. The umpire denied her that opportunity until she realized that the Ukrainian left the court which she was only allowed to do once. With the rules bending, the Swiss star got the opportunity to speak with her dad who tried to keep her calm before the decider.
In what was the first third set played by Svitolina in the tournament, she dug in to challenge Bencic who had another double fault in her service game. She locked down to win but couldn’t find a way to become aggressive on the returns. It was the beginning of service holds that went six games with the Ukrainian gaining momentum. She pulled out all the stops to beat down Bencic in the seventh gaining three break points to hold two for the win.
Both players took coaching conferences with Svitolina receiving praise from Bettles while making sure she didn’t get negative going forward. Bencic kept his daughter in check as she was not out of it and that a break back would level her back. It was not meant to be as Bencic used her last challenge during game point in the eighth to see Svitolina take a 5-3 hold. The Swiss star was on the edge of defeat but held to force the sixth seed to serve for a spot back to the final.
In a sudden turn of luck, the 24-year-old had a lot of trouble giving Bencic free points that spanned seven points. With the triple break, Svitolina committed a double fault that put her in another deadlock at five-all and the Swiss on an eight-point streak. The defending champion put it to a stop but continued to face a serious fight from Bencic. She had to force deuce but got into trouble when the AD point went to the 21-year-old. She took the game on a forehand error from Svitolina that gave her another massive amount of leverage.
She went into her serve in the 12th with heavy pressure on Svitolina but witnessed her opponent saving two match points to deuce. She saved a third with another crosscourt winner and when her time for the AD point came, it was a wide return from Bencic that pushed things to a tiebreak. Bencic made an early statement with a crosscourt winner before make it 2-0 on another one.
Bencic erred on serve to put Svitolina on the board but got a crosscourt on the line to gain back a two-point buffer. A long ball cut the margin in half for her 20th forehand error but gained back the margin at 4-2. She couldn’t get the second serve to stay in allowing Svitolina to stay close in touch. She was saved as the sixth seed erred before a lob return went behind the Ukrainian to end another stunning end after 1 hour and 58 minutes.
“I kinda like erratic matches, I don’t know why,” Bencic joked during her on-court interview with Annabell Croft. “I feel like I’m playing better when I’m 3-5 down so probably should try next match as well.” Bencic had an up and down first serve percentage that found a way to surge at the right time scoring 20 of 31 from the first and seven of ten from the second. “I feel much freer and have nothing to lose so I think that’s why,” she said. Bencic will go into Saturday night facing Petra Kvitova who will do everything to stop the Swiss’ strength.
“I faced her at the Australian Open,” Bencic said about the Czech. “She’s in great form and she’s a great champion so it will be an honor to play the final against her and of course give my best and try to win it.”
