Belinda Bencic secured her first title since returning from maternity leave with a come-from-behind victory over American Ashlyn Krueger at the Abu Dhabi Open on Saturday.
The Swiss Olympic gold medallist spent 13 months away from the tour and got back to action last October, just six months after giving birth to her first child Bella.
Bencic recovered from a poor serving performance in the first set to beat the 51st-ranked Krueger 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 and clinch the ninth title of her career and first since her triumph in Abu Dhabi two years ago.
In the first meeting between the pair, both Krueger and Bencic struggled on serve early on, combining for eight double faults in the opening three games in tricky, windy conditions.
Six of the first eight games went against the serve, with Bencic wiping out a 1-3 deficit and breaking for 4-3 before Krueger pegged her back and drew level.
The 20-year-old American was racking up the double faults, committing a total of 10 in the first set but she continued to unleash powerful forehands to put pressure on Bencic, who finally surrendered the set after 10 tight games and 65 minutes of play.
Bencic only managed to win 38 percent of her first-serve points in the opening set, but that statistic dramatically improved in the second, allowing the Swiss to carve out a 4-0 lead and she soon got on equal terms to force a decider.
Despite needing a medical timeout to treat hand blisters halfway through the final set, Bencic kept up her momentum and wrapped up the win in two hours and 23 minutes.
The 27-year-old Bencic was ranked outside the top 1,000 in November and will re-enter the top 65 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
De Minaur cruises into Rotterdam final
Australia's Alex de Minaur eased into the Rotterdam Open final on Saturday, bringing to an end the extraordinary giant-killing run of Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci with an entertaining straight-sets win.
De Minaur was too consistent for the error-prone Bellucci, who was unable to repeat his earlier heroics against Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, going down 6-1, 6-2.
The Australian will face the winner of tonight's semi-final between top seeded Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.
"I'm very happy with the level today," said De Minaur.
"He's been playing with a lot of confidence this whole week, so I knew it was going to be a very tough battle," added the third-seeded Australian.
Bellucci was playing his first ATP 500 semi-final but showed few nerves at the start, delighting the crowd with a trick shot winner through his legs in the very first game.
But a missed smash, an unforced error, and a double-fault gifted De Minaur an early break, and the Australian raced into a 3-0 first set lead.
A second break followed, as De Minaur's trademark retrieving wore down the Italian. The Australian clinched the set 6-1 with a powerful forehand winner.
De Minaur also broke early in the second set, as Bellucci drifted yet another forehand wide.
Bellucci managed to hold serve at 5-2 but De Minaur wasted little time wrapping up the match, the Italian sending a backhand groundstroke long, his 30th unforced error.
Runner-up last year to world number one Jannik Sinner, De Minaur has enjoyed comfortable passage to the final, winning all his matches in straight sets.
"The Dutch crowd always treats me very well, and I love coming back here. So hopefully I can get a title this time," he said. AFP
1736834402-0/Untitled-design-(59)1736834402-0-165x106.webp "article")
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ