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Belinda Bencic was once again unstoppable at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship Friday night. The Swiss star clinched her third top 10 win in a row and denied Elina Svitolina a third straight Dubai title with a stunning 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) win.
This victory gives Bencic a chance to move into the top 30 for the first time in years.
Bencic and Svitolina hadn'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.
Four years have gone by since a WTA player won three titles in a row at a single tournament, and that put Svitolina in a position to join a select group of players.
But Bencic stood in the way. Her third appearance in Dubai was already one she’ll never forget, as she had pulled off big upsets against the world number nine and number two consecutively.
In a season that has been a major improvement over every single one she's had since 2015, the Swiss star would try to make it three upsets in a row against the world number six.
Bencic started the match brightly, getting the break early in the first set. She then put in a love hold to gain a measure of control against Svitolina, who didn’t look comfortable yet.
The Ukrainian held firmly to get back on track in the set and dug in during the fourth to hunt down a break chance. Bencic denied her though, playing very good offensive tennis to stay two games up.
Bencic then attacked Svitolina's serve again, which soon opened up a wide gap and caused the sixth seed to call out her coach Andrew Bettles. But Bencic continued on with her task of opening up the court with tremendous depth and accuracy. She took a commanding 5-1 lead, putting the defending champion under severe pressure serving in the seventh.
Svitolina managed a strong service game to hold Bencic off, but there was a lot of ground to make up.
Bencic soon gained three set points and sealed it with another good point, ending a remarkable set for the 21-year-old in 27 minutes. She destroyed the second serve of the Ukrainian, who won just 14 percent of points from it. Bencic also struck eight winners in the set, and everything seemed to be going her way.
She came into the second still recording return winners against the sixth seed, who couldn't afford to fall behind again. And she didn't, as she broke back to love in the second before defending her serve in the third.
Getting a little tentative with her tennis, the Swiss star called down her father and coach Ivan to help her stay focused through every point. She held to even the score but watched the control slowly slip from her fingers.
A second successive hold from Svitolina in the fifth soon led to a troubling service gave that saw Bencic commit a second double fault. That gave the Ukrainian triple break points, and she made no mistake to secure a 4-2 lead.
Bencic tried to rally back, getting a break back to get back within reach. Svitolina called down Bettles again, who told her that she had to commit to taking control and also increase the first serve percentage.
A third straight break went into the hands of the 24-year-old, who clearly had the momentum now. She also had a 5-3 lead, and stepped up to serve for a chance to send the match into a decider.
Svitolina made sure to lock down the set, landing two aces to get it done. Bencic’s first serve was poor in the second set, causing her enormous stress in the rallies.
During the break between sets, a slight confusion occurred as Bencic was denied a coaching call. The umpire refused to allow it until she realized that the Ukrainian had left the court, which she was only allowed to do once.
With the rules being bent, 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 opening service game. She eventually got the hold but couldn’t find a way to be aggressive on the returns.
That was the beginning of service holds that went all the way to six games, with the Ukrainian slowly gaining some momentum. She pulled out all the stops to beat Bencic down in the seventh, gaining three break points and subsequently breaking for a 4-3 lead.
Both players took coaching conferences at that point, with Svitolina receiving praise from Bettles and also being warned about not getting negative going forward. Bencic's father tried to remind her that she was not out of it yet, and that a break back would bring her on level terms.
It was not meant to be immediately though, as Bencic squandered her last challenge on game point in the eighth to see Svitolina take a 5-3 lead. 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 events though, the 24-year-old had a lot of trouble winning free points, and she promptly went down three break points. Svitolina committed a double fault on the first, which put her in another deadlock at five-all and the Swiss on an eight-point winning streak.
The defending champion put a stop to that streak in the ninth game, but continued to face a serious fight from Bencic. She forced deuce but couldn't capitalize as the AD point went to the 21-year-old. Bencic took the game on a forehand error from Svitolina, which gave her a massive amount of leverage.
Svitolina stepped up to serve in the 12th with heavy pressure on her shoulders, but saved two match points to get to deuce. She saved a third with another crosscourt winner, and then elicited a wide return from Bencic to push things to a tiebreak.
Bencic made an early statement in the breaker with a crosscourt winner before make it 2-0 on another one. She then erred on serve to put Svitolina on the board, but got a crosscourt forehand on the line to gain back a two-point buffer.
A long ball cut the margin in half for her 20th forehand error, but she gained back the margin at 4-2. She then failed to get the second serve to stay in, allowing Svitolina to stay close in touch.
The sixth seed erred though, before a lob return went behind the Ukrainian's back to end another stunning end in 1 hour and 58 minutes.
“I kinda like erratic matches, I don’t know why,” Bencic joked during her on-court interview with Annabel Croft. “I feel like I’m playing better when I’m 3-5 down so probably should try next match as well.”
“I feel much freer and have nothing to lose so I think that’s why,” she added. Bencic will go into Saturday night facing Petra Kvitova, who will do everything to stop the Swiss’ astonishing run.
“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.”
