Charleston: Bencic defeats Jabeur, wins her sixth career title

On Sunday, Belinda Bencic won the Credit One Charleston Open for the sixth time on the Hologic WTA Tour. In a thrilling championship match on the green clay, the No. 10 seed from Switzerland defeated Tunisia’s No. 4 seed Ons Jabeur 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

Bencic, who was playing in her first clay-court final, battled through a back-and-forth third set before claiming the championship in 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Since former World No. 1 Martina Hingis won the WTA 500 event in 1999, Bencic is the first Swiss woman to win.

Following the match, Bencic said, “I’m super thrilled to win the first title on clay.”

“I guess I was fighting for about a week.” In the first round, I was two points away from being eliminated, and I believe this is how you win a tournament.”

”It means a lot, especially since this is the tournament’s 50th anniversary, and it makes me so happy to be among those names, especially after seeing all the former champions yesterday.”

According to the numbers, Bencic, the Olympic gold medallist from last year, won her 29th Top 10 victory of her career.

Bencic was 1-4 versus Top 10 opponents on clay prior to this week, but she gained two Top 10 victories in Charleston, defeating Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals and Jabeur on Sunday.

Bencic won 70% of her first-service points in the final, and she converted seven of her 19 break points. That would be enough to stave off Jabeur’s comeback, which was remarkably identical to her performance against Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals on Saturday.

Bencic, the former World No. 4, jumped from No. 21 to No. 13 in the new rankings released on Monday as a result of her victory. Jabeur, the runner-up, moved up one spot in the rankings, from No. 10 to No. 9.

Story of the match

In the first set, Bencic never faced a break point, winning 90 percent of her first-serve points. However, after falling behind by a break in the first game of the second set, Jabeur came back with a crosscourt forehand winner to secure her first break of the day.

From then, the match was evenly matched, with Jabeur saving two break points before holding for 6-5 in the second set. Jabeur was rewarded for her perseverance as she broke Bencic in the next game with a forehand winner down the line, stealing the set.

Bencic took the lead for good in the third set after breaking for 4-3 with excellent groundstroke depth. Bencic failed to convert her first championship point at 5-3 on Jabeur’s serve, but she remained unfazed while serving for the title, winning with a strong love hold.