By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, February 12, 2023
Belinda Bencic saved three championship points in the tiebreaker rallying past Liudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 to win her eighth title in Abu Dhabi.
Photo credit: Christopher Pike/Getty
The walls were closing on Belinda Bencic as she stared down three championship points in Abu Dhabi.
Tugging on her visor, Bencic brought the house down with committed comeback.
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Battling back from the brink, Bencic denied three championship points in the tiebreaker rallying past Liudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 to capture her eighth career title with a stirring Abu Dhabi fightback.
It is Bencic's first win in four meetings vs. Samsonova, who put herself in position to prevail only to fall for the first time in five career finals.
"It was a very tight match today," said Bencic, who has won six of her eight titles on hard courts. "I want to congratulate Liudmila as well and her team. She's playing amazing. It was a great battle today. I'm happy to finally beat you after last year I lost to you three times."
The explosive Samsonova has been a tennis terminator with a title trophy on the line. Samsonova carried a 4-0 finals record onto court and was in prime position to close playing a brilliant opening set and rallying from 2-5 down in the second set to gain championship points at 6-4, 6-5 and 8-7 in the tiebreaker.
There was no surrender from the second-seeded Swiss, who withstood fierce baseline firepower from her opponent to collect her second title of the year following her triumph at Adelaide International 2 last month.
The Olympic gold-medal champion improved to 12-2 on the season surpassing Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka for the WTA lead in 2023 victories. It's the fifth WTA 500 level championship of Bencic's career and she earned it the hard way.
It was a gut-wrenching loss for Samsonova, who lit up the court with winners nearly doubling Bencic's winner output and showed class thanking fans and congratulating Bencic in the aftermath.
"It was amazing final of course. I'm happy to be here today so thank you very much," Samsonova told the crowd after a painful loss. "It was an amazing year last year, I'm really grateful to have played another final this year.
"Many, many congrats to Belinda and her team for an amazing year also. It was amazing hearing the crowd cheering for me. Thank you very much for cheering me, I appreciate it."
Contesting her fourth final in her last 10 tournaments, Samsonova continues a strong stretch. At this time last year, Samsonova was ranked No. 34. This final vaults Samsonova to a new career-high ranking of No. 15 in the live rankings.
Finals jitters were evident on both sides of the net at the start.
No. 8-seeded Samsonova spit up two double faults in the opening game—matching the total she hit in her three-set semifinal win over Zheng Qinwen yesterday—and faced a break point, but shrugged it off smacking a superb running forehand down the line to hold.
The Samsonova forehand is a fierce weapon predicated on her skill creating spin, power and rapid racquet-head acceleration. Samsonova gave the Swiss stylist a taste of that shot crushing a crosscourt forehand pass to break Bencic in her first service game.
Spreading the court with deep forehand drives into both corners, Samsonova backed up the break with confidence. The world No. 19 slammed an ace down the T consolidating for 3-0.
Bencic worked through her first hold to get on the board, but the Swiss was struggling to solve the Samsonova jolting forehand that was jumping off the court stranding the second seed in obscure positions.
While the Swiss is skilled at straddling the baseline, taking the ball on the rise and redirecting opponent's pace, Bencic barely had time to blink at the shotmaking storm Samsonova unleashed.
Six games into the match, Bencic was muttering misgivings as she went to the towel to try to slow the Samsonova express. That was temporary reprieve, Samsonova slid a sharp-angled backhand cross to drag her opponent wide spinning a forehand into the open court she created to break again for 5-1.
It's easy to grow fixated on the Samsonova forehand because it's such a fluid, powerful and versatile stroke. Samsonova can bang it off both things and showed it hammering her two-hander to close a commanding 35-minute first set that left the Olympic gold-medal champion looking a little shell shocked. Samsonova smacked 16 winners—11 more than Bencic—in the opener winning her seventh straight set in a final.
The only thing Samsonova didn't do exceptionally well in the first set was land her first serve. The 5'11" Samsonova served just 36 percent, but was nearly untouchable when she made the first serve winning eight of nine first-serve points in that first set.
Knowing she needed to keep the ball off her opponent's forehand, Bencic started the second set striking with more depth while trying to push Samsonova wide to defend the backhand.
Eager to stop the bleeding, Bencic stamped her strongest hold to start the second set. Then the Swiss drove some deep returns and coaxed a double fault to earn her first break point since the first game. Samsonova snuffed out that threat with a strong first serve to hold.
Two games later, Bencic hit a sharp two-hander crosscourt to earn another break point. Samsonova saved it but missed a diagonal forehand to face a second break point in the fourth game. This time, the Swiss played off the front foot, forced Samsonova to defend the backhand and drew the error to earn her first break with a shout for 3-1.
Credit Bencic's tenacity clinging to the baseline and refusing to give up much ground even when she was being battered in the first set. Bencic was timing the ball well, striking deeper shots and rattling out errors from Samsonova, who made eight errors through the first five games compared to five errors total in the seven-game first set. When Samsonova jerked a wide forehand, Bencic went up 4-1.
Serving for the second set at 5-3, Bencic left a few shots short and paid the price as Samsonova swept heavy drives for love-30. When Bencic put her trademark two-hander into the net, Samsonova had a pair of break back points.
Drilling a return right back at Bencic, Samsonova rattled out a squatted error to get back on serve at 4-5. Samsonova stung her seventh ace out wide blasting through a strong hold to level after 10 games.
Feeling the Samsonova stress, Bencic got testy when her serve was incorrectly called out. Replay showed it landed on the line. Bencic argued she should have won the point as the return missed, but chair umpire Marija Cicak ruled a first serve. Samsonova fired a forehand down the line for break points. Bencic dug deep from love-40 down to draw even at deuce.
A fired-up Bencic bent a backhand crosscourt off the sideline saving triple break point and sealing a hard-fought hold for 6-5.
A step inside the service line, Samsonova set up for a routine high forehand but tightened and slapped it into net to fall behind 15-30. Bencic was two points from a final set, but Samsonova lifted her level holding firm to force the tiebreaker.
A fine defensive lob from Bencic pushed Samsonova back to the baseline. Samsonova was moving backward as she netted a bounce smash and the Swiss had the first mini break. Samsonova drew a netted backhand to get the mini break back then blasted a 111 mph ace to level, 3-3.
Pressure provoked Bencic's third double fault as Samsonova edged ahead in the breaker for the first time, 5-4.
Curling a crosscourt forehand winner, Samsonova gained two championship points.
Fighting off a body serve, Bencic made a deep return and drew a netted forehand on the first championship point.
On the second championship point, Bencic hit a net-cord, kept her poise and then caught the baseline winning a tense 12-shot rally for 6-6. A Bencic backhand earned the Swiss set point at 7-6, but she netted her signature shot to squander it.
Missing a forehand cross, Bencic bounced her Yonex stick off the court in frustration facing a third championship point.
Every time Bencic teetered on the ledge of loss she put her foot down and hit back.
In one of the longest exchanges of the match Bencic repelled everything coming at her to level 8-8. Hitting the wide serve, Bencic earned a second set point at 9-8.
A stubborn Bencic bolted a return right back through the middle drawing the error. Bencic battle back from the brink of three championship points to take it to a decider after two hours of play. Samsonova's level dipped a bit midway through the set as she hit 21 errors in the second set, but credit Bencic's spirited fight and refusal to lose for carrying her through a dramatic 82-minute second set.
Whether she was fatigued from her longest match of the year or haunted by failure to convert championship points, Samsonova played one of her sloppiest service games of the night jerking a forehand well wide to gift a love break and 2-1 lead to Bencic.
The pair collaborated on three straight breaks as Bencic won eight of nine points on Samsonova's serve to edge ahead 3-2. Bencic backed up the break bolting a diagonal forehand behind her opponent for 4-2.
Serving for the title, Bencic came back from 15-30 to earn championship point. Picking a forehand up off the baseline to extend the point, Bencic drew a netted forehand to complete a rousing comeback.
The Olympic gold medal champion showed competitive character and emotional fire fighting through in two hours, 48 minutes.