Bencic is a worthy champion, and other lessons learned from opening Abu Dhabi Open
The inaugural Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open ended on Sunday with Swiss Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic becoming the tournament’s first champion.
The world number nine produced a stunning performance in the final, saving three match points late in the second set to beat powerful Russian Lyudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.
Here’s what we learned from the WTA 500-level event in the UAE capital.
bennick keeps rolling
The week in Abu Dhabi reinforced what we already knew – that Bencic is in excellent form and is enjoying a promising start to her 2023 campaign.
The 25-year-old has now won two titles in as many months – she also won in Adelaide in January – and her success in the UAE has lifted her to the top of the WTA match-winners leaderboard for the season with 12 wins. Is. Against just two losses.
Bencic entered the final with a 0-3 record against Samsonova and struggled to hold any lead on the Russian’s serve in the first eight games of their clash on Sunday.
She dug deep to break open in the second set but failed to serve at 5-3, forcing a tiebreak with Samsonova. Bencic stood her ground in the breaker, saved three championship points with some pure movement, and somehow walked away with the trophy.
Bencic joked about the “Tursunov effect” earlier in the week, referring to his coach, Dmitry Tursunov, who joined his camp before the start of the season, and he led his team on Sunday with a fierce Samsonova. Tribute for helping.
“I’m glad I stayed really tough with the head. Sometimes you can be like, ‘Okay, this is the point of the match, I’m just about to get out of here, I’m losing,’ and just mentally But I did well not to think so. I felt like my team was pushing me to go for it, especially in the tiebreak,” Bencic said after the win.
Bencic, who heads straight to Doha after the Abu Dhabi final to take part in the Qatar Open, will be hoping to translate her success from a minor Tour event into a major tournament as she continues her quest for that first Grand Slam trophy.
“It’s one title, one per month now, hopefully (continue),” joked the Swiss, referring to the trophy he has won so far this season.
“I’m really grateful. It’s not like you’re looking at the title before the tournament; of course you want to win but you take it match by match. Every tournament you play has tough draws. You just Every week I can do my best. I feel I am improving a lot and I believe I can win titles and hopefully it will be the same with the big titles. I just want to give myself a chance. Trying and working really hard for it.”
Samsonova breaks into top 10
She came extremely close to taking her overall record to 5-0 in WTA Finals, and despite the loss, Samsonova can take a lot of positives from her week in Abu Dhabi.
The 24-year-old will make her Top-15 debut on Monday and has the firepower to threaten the best players on tour.
Samsonova started the season with a hard-fought loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the second round of Adelaide. Sabalenka has yet to lose a match in 2023 – is a perfect 11-0 – and won her maiden Grand Slam title last month with a win over Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final.
Sabalenka and Rybakina both play a power game that has earned them major trophies, and Samsonova, who has the same brand of boom-boom tennis, is drawing confidence and inspiration from her fellow big-hitters.
“In Adelaide I played against Aryana and I was the first player to play her (in the stretch) 7-6, 7-6 because she is unbeatable right now. I had the chance and I felt so confident. They are both big hitters, my game is similar and I can improve from them.
Abu Dhabi is a welcome addition to the Middle East swing
It’s no secret that the WTA calendar has been severely impacted by the suspension of all Chinese and Russian tournaments, and it hasn’t been easy creating a smooth schedule that forces players to travel back and forth around the world to compete. does not do.
So when players learned that Abu Dhabi was hosting a 500-level tournament that would extend the Middle East swing to three weeks, many jumped at the opportunity to participate, taking home 2,000 ranking points and some generous prize money. Was being caught in Abu. Dhabi, Doha and Dubai in February.
“When I found out about this tournament, everyone was so happy. My team said, ‘Okay there we go,’ because living here, having an hour flight between each tournament, it’s amazing. I love these kinds of things. It is very helpful for us players.
Abu Dhabi’s top seed Daria Kasatkina shared Samsonova’s sentiments and described how difficult the past year had been, traveling long distances on tour each week.
“It’s amazing. Especially compared to the end of last year,” said Kasatkina of the three-week Middle East swing.
“There was a stretch of Tokyo, Ostrava, San Diego, Guadalajara, and then if you qualify for the WTA Finals, Fort Worth. So it’s crazy. I know it’s because of all the situations we’ve had these years But to be honest it’s crazy, it’s very difficult to enjoy playing, enjoy your work when you’re tired.
“The travel, plus jet-lag, plus going to Guadalajara, I was honestly going crazy because of the altitude conditions. It’s tough. So of course it’s better when we have a block of tournaments in the same country or region.
Organizers describe one year as successful
Tournament owner IMG moved WTA sanctioning from St Petersburg, Russia to Abu Dhabi, and the announcement was made just three weeks before kick-off.
This gave organizers limited time to promote the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, but by the end of the week the stadium was about 60 to 70 percent full and the tennis village came alive during the weekend.
“It went really well. We had five weeks to prepare and it’s been a really successful year,” Vicki Gunnarsson, director of tennis events at IMG, told Arab News.
“Operationally, everything has become super smooth. We have nine players in the top 20. Such a great success, lots of mates have come to support us and we had really great tennis all week.
Gunnarsson believes the tournament has all the necessary ingredients to make it a strong annual fixture on the UAE sporting calendar and dismissed any suggestion that the market could be saturated with three tournaments held in the Gulf in the same month.
“I think it’s positive for the area, it’s very positive for women’s tennis in particular and for the players because they get to be in one place and they don’t have to travel as much, and it’s really A great way to get multiple rankings in the Points in the same place at the start of the season, so it’s great for them,” she said.
“And for the region I think it’s excellent, too. It’s supporting women’s professional tennis, you’ve got an influx of tourists coming in, and it’s really empowering women in all kinds of aspects of society.” making, they get to look up to role models and just the belief that I can do something with my life, whatever it is, that if I dream big, it can become a reality.”