Bencic claims Abu Dhabi title

ABU DHABI — World No.9 Belinda Bencic came back from the brink of defeat to pull off a victory over an opponent she had never previously beaten and capture her second Hologic WTA Tour singles title of the year at the Abu Dhabi Open.

No.2 seed Bencic saved three championship points in the second-set tiebreak before overcoming No.8 seed Liudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 in 2-hour and 48-minute final. Bencic claimed the eighth WTA singles title of her career with the comeback win.

“It’s been a really tight match, and I’m happy to turn these match points around,” Switzerland’s Bencic said, after her win. “I just really tried hanging in there and scramble for every point, and just do my best.

“I’m really happy to walk away with the title here and I think I played some really good matches, but they were also tough. I proved to myself that I can really fight hard and just stay in the matches and somehow turn it around.”

Switzerland’s Bencic is now the tour leader in match-wins this season, with 12. She passes Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who has won her first 11 matches of 2023.

Bencic also joins Sabalenka as the only two-time titlists so far this year. She adds the Abu Dhabi crown to her Adelaide International 2 title from last month.

To make that happen, Bencic had to earn her first win over Samsonova in four attempts. Samsonova defeated Bencic in the 2021 Berlin final to win her first career title, and she picked up two more wins against the Swiss player that year, at Luxembourg and the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

Elsewhere, No.8 seed Anastasia Potapova clinched her second career Hologic WTA Tour singles title, cruising past No.6 seed Petra Martic 6-3, 6-1 in the Austria Ladies Linz final.

Potapova defeated Martic in the second round of her first title run at Istanbul last year, and she beat the Croatian once again during her second title run, this time in a 1-hour and 16-minute final. Potapova has now edged ahead in their head-to-head by 2-1.

“Well, it was a tough week,” said Potapova, who won her first four matches in three sets.

“Let’s be honest, it was an unexpected result at the end, as I came here not in the best conditions. I was in pain, I was a little bit injured everywhere, let’s say.

“After the first match, I just said, ‘Well, if I can bring this level, maybe I can try to go further and further in the draw.’ I managed to do this, and every day I was feeling better and better, and it turned out that on the final day, I was as fresh as I could be, and I felt even better than before the first round. It’s funny but it’s true.”

World No.43 Potapova excelled returning the Martic second serve all day, winning 73 percent of those points (19 of 26). Potapova used that to convert five of her 10 break points while ceding her own service only once.

This is Potapova’s first title on hard court, joining her clay-court title in Istanbul. Potapova had previously lost two hard-court finals, at Tashkent in 2018 and Prague last year.

After dropping serve at love to open the match, Potapova was in danger in her next service game as well. Potapova had to save four break points in a seven-deuce game before getting on the scoreboard and avoiding a double-break deficit.

After that, though, Potapova took charge. She got back on serve at 2-2 after another lengthy game, converting her fifth break point with a backhand crosscourt winner.

Potapova never faced another break point all day. She broke Martic for 5-3, served out the first set with ease, and then dropped only a total of two points on her serve in the second set.

Meanwhile, Natela Dzalamidze and Viktoria Kuzmova saved a championship point in the Linz doubles final, then took the title with a 4-6, 7-5, [12-10] win over Anna-Lena Friedsam and Nadiia Kichenok.

Dzalamidze and Kuzmova stared down the championship point on their own serve at 9-8 in the match-tiebreak, but they held on for 9-9 on the way to collecting four of the last five points of the match.

It is Dzalamidze’s third career doubles title, and her most recent title since she won the 2021 Linz title alongside Kamilla Rakhimova. It is Kuzmova’s fourth career doubles title, and her first since 2021 as well.