Olympic champion and world number 9 Belinda Bencic saved three championships records in the tie-break of the second set to beat number 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova 1-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 after 2 hours and 48 minutes in the final of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open.
Bencic becomes the WTA Tour leader in match wins in 2023 with 12 victories. The Swiss player is the only two-time titlist so far this season. She followed her title in Adelaide with her second triumph in Abu Dhabi.
Samsonova had won her previous three head-to-head matches against Bencic in the Berlin final, in Luxembourg and at the Billie Jean King Cup in 2021.
Samsonova had remained undefeated in her four previous championships matches so fa far.
Samsonova hit 16 winners to five unforced errors and broke twice in the second and sixth games to win the first set 6-1.
Bencic saved three break points at 5-5 in the second set. Samsonova earned championships points at 6-4, 6-5 and 8-7 in the tie-break in the second set but Bencic saved them. Bencic converted her second set point at 9-8 as Samsonova misfired a backhand into the net.
Bencic earned the decisive break with a forehand return and held on her serve to seal the win.
“It’s been a really tight match, and I am happy to turn these match points around. I just really tried hanging in there and scramble for every point, and just do my best. I am really happy to walk away with the title and I think I played really good matches, but they were also tough. I proved to myself that I can really hard and just stay in the matches and turn it around”, said Bencic.
Luisa Stefani and Zhang Shuai won the doubles title after a 3-6 6-2 10-8 win over Shuko Aoyumi and Chan Hao-ching after 1 hour and 32 minutes.
Zhang Shaui won her 13th doubles title. The Chinese teamed up with Samantha Stosur to win two Grand Slam titles at the 2019 Australian Open and at the 2021 US Open.
