In Friday’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semifinals, world No.45 Belinda Bencic recorded her third Top 10 victory in a row to prevent sixth seed Elina Svitolina from defending her title, while second seed Petra Kvitova defeated Hsieh Su-wei.
After fighting back to beat Aryna Sabalenka and Simona Halep, the 21-year-old Bencic survived a 5-3 deficit in the third set to overcome Svitolina 6-2 3-6 7-6(3), letting her instincts automatically guide her to the victory, as the Swiss later explained. In the first semifinal on Friday, the 2013 Dubai champion Kvitova ended Hsieh’s fairy-tale run 3-6 6-2 6-4.
Kvitova leads Bencic 3-0 in their head-to-head stats, including a recent straight set victory in the Australian Open third round.
MORE PHOTOS FROM DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019:
- Thursday: Bencic, Svitolina, Kvitova, Hsieh reach semifinals
- Wednesday: Halep, Kvitova reach quarterfinals, Kerber out
- Tuesday: Second-round matches, Osaka loses right after splitting from coach Bajin
- Monday: Osaka practices with coach Yoshikawa, first round completes
- Sunday: First round kicks off, top players warm up
