(Charleston) Belinda Bencic won three of the last four games to defeat Ons Jabeur in straight sets 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to become the Charleston Open champion. This is a first career title on clay for the Swiss.
Posted at 8:00 p.m.
In total, it is a sixth title for Bencic on the WTA circuit and a first crowning since his gold medal at the Tokyo Games.
Bencic had slipped away in her first game at Indian Wells last month and was unsure where she was headed. The tide started to turn in Miami, where she reached the semifinals, then she continued her momentum in Charleston.
Bencic had reached the semi-final in Charleston in his first participation in 2014, but had never been able to repeat this success before this year. She got her hands on a scholarship of US$158,000.
Tenth-seeded Bencic seemed to have it easy against Tunisia’s Jabeur after breaking her serve twice to win the first set.
PHOTO: MIC SMITH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ons Jabeur
But Jabeur, the fourth seed and tenth player in the world, pulled herself together and limited errors. She tapped into the cheers of the crowd and snatched the second set.
Then, in the final round, it was Bencic who rebounded from a strong start to take a 3-1 lead. Jabeur, however, had not said his last word and brought everything to a 3-3 tie.
It was then that Bencic’s almost flawless play from the back of the pitch came to wear Jabeur down, allowing the Swiss to take control late in the game.