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Sofia Kenin showed that she could play against any level of adversity and come out on top. The 20-year-old, who played back to back tiebreaks and staved off three match points by Belinda Bencic, took the Mallorca Open championship in the deciding third with a 6-7(2), 7-6(5) 6-4 win on Pista Central concluding the tournament at Santa Ponza Country Club.
The battle was on between the two players with one vying for her fifth and the other searching for her second WTA title respectively.
The American made it to the semifinals last year making it a key point for her to make the final on the Spanish island.
Bencic was having another one of those journey’s where her talents brought her close to capturing another title.
Both worked hard in their previous matches as both were three-setters. Bencic found a weakness of Angelique Kerber and Kenin denied Anastasija Sevastova to advance to the final.
With both on a collision course, they would have to keep the nerves in check and play their best to go for their first title of the tournament.
Having more experience than her opponent, Bencic scored a serve to love to open the match rattling the American. Kenin’s nerves were rattled just enough to commit a double fault and was broken to love.
Bencic fell behind in the third but rallied to save break points, force deuce and let one AD go before a third was the charm to open the gap wider. The American had a conversation with her father and coach to try and figure out how to minimize the mistakes and settle down.
She showed some improvements of patience and came out well in front of the ball during the fourth. Despite double faulting a second time, the 20-year-old held to end Bencic’s shutout and cut the deficit.
The chance came during the fifth when Bencic’s frustration boiled over as fans refused to be quiet during her serve. It led to a loss of focus that gave Kenin the break putting her within reach. The Swiss star called down her father and coach to get her calm and back into action.
Before she could do that, Kenin walked through the door easily in the sixth that leveled her at three-all with Bencic who was out of sorts.
Bencic battled with a first serve that totally fell apart leading to a fourth straight win for Kenin. When it looked like the seventh seed had one-way traffic for herself, the third seed blocked the path and broke back to level proceedings and consolidated it with a hold to play for the set.
Kenin was on the ball in the tenth and made sure to contain her performance level which helped her even up and extend the set.
Bencic nearly lost her sanity as the 11th was a tense time where calls did not go the way either wanted. The game went to deuce and in the end, to Bencic as she saw returns of Kenin fall long of the baseline opening her one more chance to end the set or face a serious tiebreak.
Kenin made sure that it went in that direction looking to use her momentum and get out front in the match.
Bencic was the first to do that getting things started with three consecutive points. With a minibreak in hand, the 22-year-old used her early jump to sit 3-0 before Kenin gained two straight.
Bencic recovered to take it outright and complete the victory that took one hour and two minutes. The winners to unforced errors ratio worked out for the Swiss as she kept the errors low that negated the nearly two dozen winners that Kenin brought to court.
With some stability, the second saw them well under control of their service games holding one another off through five games and Kenin leading the way. Bencic managed to level each time showing her frustrations but not enough to let her game get out of her grasp.
By the eighth, Bencic increased her level of strength on serve and reflected it into breaking Kenin each time.
The American faltered badly in the ninth giving Bencic three break points. A long return gave the third seed the key break that put her on point to serve for the championship.
A move of desperation saw the 20-year-old calling down her coach to try and counter on what was her potentially last game of the tournament. Bencic gave her some hope as the second serve caused her sixth double of the match.
She recorded another that gave Kenin a 30-0, but made up for it with an ace. A second one canceled out the bad start before a third set up championship point. Kenin saved it to force deuce with a crosscourt return but couldn’t get to a line drive winner that gave Bencic a second try.
Three was not a charm for the 22-year-old as she committed a third double on serve and handed the seventh seed her first break point opportunity.
A line drive from Kenin was a perfect way to save championship points and force the set further. A win on serve was exactly how she wanted it to go taking control of serve to deny Bencic any point to her.
The Swiss star took a conference with her coach to try to calm her down and recover the second serve. It didn’t get the chance to come into play much with the first scoring the first pair of points.
The serve in question came in play adding an eighth double for Bencic. Kenin leveled the score before blowing a return that led to the third seed holding. With success in the previous tiebreak, the World No. 17 hoped to repeat her success. Kenin refused to give her the opening point but saw her take the next outright.
Two critical errors opened the lead for the American who built upon a 4-1 lead to be at 6-2 soon after.
Bencic, somehow, saved three break points but when one more would have put her in a better spot to counter, a long return instead clinched the second for Kenin to set up a massive three setter ending 61 minutes.
It was clear that the six doubles that Bencic suffered were her downfall of ending the match on her terms.
With the breaks open to the 20-year-old, she knew that she would have to up her game and make it a tough path for Bencic to follow on.
The Swiss star did that herself adding two more double faults in the set despite being even at one-all.
She surprised many with her ability to keep her serve in check as the set went on keeping the edge on Kenin after the end of the fifth game. As the eighth game elapsed, the two remained on serve with each increase their holds on one another with the end closing in on them.
The change arrived in the ninth where Kenin opened scoring with three break points pressuring Bencic into submission.
The Swiss star saved one but coming back from the deficit was not on Kenin’s mind as she secured the point to serve for the championship herself.
She played an unbelievable second point in the tenth where she somehow got to every ball during the rally before putting it away herself.
After saving three championship points, the American gained two of her own to win her second title on a second serve crosscourt that came back into the net from Bencic ending the thrilling match in 2 hours and 42 minutes.
