Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships 2019: Bencic miraculously wins the title over Kvitova
No one could have imagined an ending that occurred at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships Saturday night. Belinda Bencic once again put together a stunning upset that took down second-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in a three-set roller coaster, where the Swiss star somehow surged back late the in the match to win the title on Center Court at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Stadium. The massive victory to sum up the week gave her a third WTA title and the second of a premier five tournament.
The competition between the two has gone one way since 2013, when they first met, and this season where the Czech won her third straight-sets match against Bencic. History doesn’t seem to matter much in this case as the 21-year-old has proven the records wrong, defeating world number nine Aryna Sabalenka, world number two Simona Halep and world number six Elina Svitolina, who won the title the last two times.
With so much adversity against her, the Swiss star has overcome all of it to be at a point she never saw coming. It marks a chance to pick up where she left off winning the Rogers Cup back in 2015, when she was in the top ten. While a victory won’t get her there on this occasion, getting a win over a highly contentious opponent would prove that anything is possible.
She chose to face Kvitova’s service which didn’t get off on the right path. Two unforced errors went into the net giving Bencic the break to love. She fired away in the second, allowing the six- foot Czech a point before securing the game. She tried to get her serve in check during the third but a double fault and an error brought Bencic to deuce. They spanned four breaks where despite some miscues continuing, Kvitova managed to secure the hold.
An important hold gave Bencic back the lead, which meant that the pressure remained on the second seed. A double break for the 21-year-old sent our Kvitova’s coach Jiri Vanek to help her figure out how to counter her strength back effectively. With another plea of staying positive from Vanek, the 28-year-old scored a break to love cutting Bencic’s margin back to a pair. Consolidating a hold in the seventh was a big statement to show her determination, sending Bencic’s father out to figure out how to get her back into control.
She was fortunate to hold off Kvitova in the eighth as a break opportunity showed itself. The Swiss star played defense with the set in reach attacking with superior groundstrokes, and a loose forehand by the second seed to take a set's lead after 40 minutes of play. Kvitova had 11 errors and a second serve below 40 percent that troubled her to be a set down. It gave Bencic enough time to focus on every aspect of the game as she recorded only four errors through the ten games played.
After taking a break off the court, the 28-year-old Czech returned to hunt down the break with a lot of energy to take it. She quickly added a break and another hold that made it a short runaway for Kvitova who delivered the beatdown. Bencic called down her father to express her frustrations as she was out of ideas and needed something to get herself into the set. With a double break in the hands of the second seed, a huge hold in the fifth was critical and came for the 21-year-old to earn a small amount of relief.
It didn’t take anything away from Kvitova as she finished the sixth with a well-placed ace that had Bencic on the edge of playing a third set for the fourth straight match. Saving two break points in the seventh, the second seed forced deuce before taking it briskly on deuce landing a winner that ended the set in 28 minutes. With all the momentum going in Kvitova’s way, the pressure was all on Bencic, but she had the recent history working heavily in her favor.
The Czech opened the third to hold Bencic off but soon faced a confident Swiss star who answered back in kind. She followed it up with a break that changed the course of the match drastically to her benefit. The 21-year-old took the next four in a row with Kvitova racking up the errors to give the Swiss star another unbelievable set up. She went into the eighth behind in the count, but saved three break points to force deuce. It put the Czech on the edge of a stunning defeat as she fought desperately for the advantage point.
She never saw one as Bencic’s offense created the opportunity to put Kvitova away and end the tournament with the most amazing finish ever seen. It was all over in 1 hour and 45 minutes in a fourth consecutive upset that had Bencic back in the spotlight as a powerful tennis player. With everything she had inside her, the Swiss star knew that she was back in form to do great things for the rest of the season.