By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, February 21, 2019
Humor and hunger helped Belinda Bencic find new life after near competitive death.
A spirited Bencic battled back to stun Simona Halep, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and burst into the Dubai semifinals for the first time.
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The 45th-ranked Swiss showed plenty of grit reaching her first Premier-level semifinal since the 2016 St. Petersburg. Bencic will play two-time defending champion Elina Svitolina for a place in the final.
The sixth-seeded Svitolina stretched her Dubai winning streak to 12 matches with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Carla Suárez Navarro in tonight's final quarterfinal.
“Another good day, so I’m very pleased with the way I played today," Svitolina said. "It was very tough. I was expecting a tough match. She made me work for every ball. In the end, I was very solid and happy the way I played.
"For the moment, I want to just focus on what I have to do in my next match. The semi-final is going to be another tough one. For me, it’s just important to take one match at a time and not look so much ahead. I’m going to give everything to play my best tennis."
Last night, Bencic showed fierce resolve saving six match points storming back from deficits of 3-5 in both the final set and tie breaker to edge eighth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7).
"I think this match has given me a lot of energy to play her,” Bencic joked ahead of her quarterfinal clash with the former No. 1.
The 21-year-old Swiss was energized and effective defeating Halep for the second time in three meetings and the first time since her three-set conquest in the 2015 Toronto final.
Fresh off her run to the Doha final, Halep hit eight aces and 13 double faults and lost her range down the stretch.
Straddling the baseline, Bencic often took the ball on the rise and ripped drives into the corners forcing the world No. 2 to defend.
Initially, Halep staged a comeback of her own. After falling behind 0-2, she reeled off five of the next six games.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Halep denied a pair of break points only to double fault and face a third. An aggressive Bencic ran the Romanian corner-to-corner, finishing with a backhand crosscourt for her second break of the set.
The former seventh-ranked Swiss coaxed a framed return, but sailed her reply to face double-set point. Bencic flat-lined a forehand into net as Halep scored her third break to seal the 48-minute opener.
Resetting, Bencic broke to start the second set. The Roland Garros champion responded with a break then rolled through a two-ace game for 2-1.
A stubborn Bencic saved a break point in the sixth game; Halep sealed the seventh with an ace for 4-3.
Straddling the baseline, Bencic beat back everything Halep threw at her. Bencic drained three straight errors breaking at 30 for a 5-4 second-set lead.
An energized Bencic earned double set point when the Romanian over-hit a forehand drive volley and closed with a clench fist on another error from an increasingly erratic Halep.
Taking charge of the center of the court, Bencic broke twice in the first three games of the decider. Bencic curled a crosscourt backhand breaking for 3-0.
Halep answered with a break then confirmed with her first hold of the set.
Charging net to start the sixth game, Bencic was taking the ball earlier forcing Halep to do more defending as she held for 4-2.
Bending at the waist, a frustrated Halep swiped the court with her Wilson Blade after an error. Rushing through points, the Romanian tried to play lower-percentage drives down the line.
Stepping up in the court, Bencic drilled a forehand down the line to go up a double break at 5-2.
Halep saved the first match point sweeping a forehand down the line at the two hour, 11-minute mark and denied a second when Bencic shoveled a forehand into net.
The eighth game waged on through five deuces until Halep netted a backhand for a third match point. This time, the Romanian launched a forehand beyond the baseline that landed long as Bencic completed the comeback win in two hours, 17 minutes.
Su-Wei Hsieh backed up her upset of three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber, by roaring through six straight games to close a rousing 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Australian Open semifinalist Karolina Pliskova.
Hsieh displayed brilliant ball-control skills rallying from 1-5 down in the decider beating a former world No. 1 for the second time in as many days.
Down 1-5 in the final set, Hsieh completely flipped the script, moved the slower-footed Czech around the court.
It was Hsieh's fifth career Top 10 win coming eight months after she shocked world No. 1 Halep at Wimbledon.
Hsieh said she sparked her comeback by not thinking about her deficit.
"Honestly, I was not thinking about this because during the whole match I was thinking ‘she is serving so big and I need to try to do something a little bit on my return’," Hsieh said. "I won the first set 6-4, but it was still pretty difficult for me to return her serve. I wasn’t thinking of any other stuff, but just to survive on the return."
The 31-year-old Hsieh will face two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova for a spot in Saturday's final.
The second-seeded Czech crushed Viktoria Kuzmova, 6-4, 6-0, raising her 2019 record to 16-3.
It was a much-needed quick win for Kvitova, who scored three-set wins over Katerina Siniakova and American Jennifer Brady in her prior two matches. Kvitova defeated Hsieh, 7-6 (2), 6-2, in Sydney last month and knows she's in for a tricky test tomorrow.
"She's a very tricky opponent," Kvitova said. "She already beat Angie yesterday. I'm not sure if I'm surprised (Hsieh beat Pliskova). I thought Karolina would win that match, but that's tennis you never know until the last point.
"It was a big fight until the last point so that's what I'm expecting tomorrow. It's a semifinal of a big tournament so everyone is playing well. I need to be ready for that."