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walls are closing Belinda Bencic As she eyed Abu Dhabi’s three championship points.
Pulling on her visor, Bencic brought the house down with a determined comeback.
Bencic fights back from cliff edge, misses three in tiebreaker Lyudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 with a thrilling Abu Dhabi fight back to claim her eighth career title.
It was Bencic’s first win in four fights against Samsonova, who put herself in the lead but fell for the first time in five career finals.
“It was a tough game today,” said Bencic, who has won six of her eight titles on hard courts. “I also want to congratulate Liudmila and her team. She played great. It was a great fight today. Nice to finally beat you after losing to you three times last year.”
The explosive Samsonova has always been a tennis finisher, and the championship trophy is hanging in the balance. Samsonova came into the game with a 4-0 Finals record and was in the lead, finished with a strong start and bounced back from 2-5 down in the second set to go 6-4, 6- 5 and 8-7 for the Championship Points tiebreaker.
The second-seeded Swiss did not surrender, and she withstood fierce baseline fire to claim her second title of the year following her triumph at the Adelaide International 2 last month.
The Olympic gold medalist is tied with Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka at 12-2 this season and leads the WTA victories in 2023. This is the fifth WTA 500 title of Bencic’s career, and she has not come easily.
It was a gut-wrenching loss for Samsonova, who lit up the pitch with the winner, nearly double Bencic’s winner, and thanked and congratulated the fans after the game Bencic.
“Of course, it was an amazing final. I’m very happy to be here today, thank you very much,” Samsonova told the crowd after the painful loss. “Last year was an amazing year and I’m really grateful to have another final this year.
“Many congratulations to Belinda and her team for a great year as well. It was great to hear the crowd cheering for me. Thank you so much for rooting for me, I appreciate it.”
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