Yes, she did it! Belinda Bencic went all the way in Toronto, adding a victory over Simona Halep in wild Sunday’s final to the long list of brightest WTA stars eliminated en route to the title match — Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, Sabine Lisicki, Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams. True, the final ended disappointingly, with Halep’s retirement, but the moment the Romanian finally gave up came after a grueling fight that lasted two and a half hours.
The world No.20 Bencic won the first set in a tiebreak and served for the second set at 5-3, but despite feeling like a wounded warrior, Halep kept pushing through long rallies and forced the deciding set in the second-set tiebreak. With absolutely no more fuel left in her tank, Halep retired in the third set, while being two breaks down at 0-3. Final score: 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 3-0.
This has been an incredible week for the 18-year-old Bencic, as not only has she won a WTA Premier 5 tournament, ensuring $456,000 in prize money and a rise to No.12 in the rankings, but she’s done it in huge style, by taking out four out of Top 6 players, including the unbeatable No.1 Serena Williams, and on top of that all her victims boast Grand Slam finals in their bios.
As you know, our photographer Jimmie48 was taking photos at the 2015 Rogers Cup all day and night until the quarterfinals. Check out his work:
- Thursday: The day we got the last 8 women standing
- Wednesday: Azarenka vs. Kvitova blockbuster encounter
- Tuesday: Bouchard’s first-round exit
- Monday: Rain shortens the day, but still we have a bunch of nice pics of Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Simona Halep, etc.
- Sunday: WTA stars test their hockey skills in Toronto
I was so disappointed by how this match ended. It looked like we were in for a real battle when Simon withdrew. Hope she recovers very soon.
Sabey, agree, but also nothing can take away from Bencic’s stellar week and outstanding achievement.
I am pretty sure she’ll be a World No. 1 player in the future. She’ll definitely be a contender as the future queen of WTA.