Belinda Bencic and Petra Kvitova to fight for the Dubai title | H2H and match preview

Belinda Bencic and Petra Kvitova are the finalists in Dubai after winning tough semifinals.

Bencic

Belinda is the big surprise in Dubai. The Swiss has finally managed to recover her condition after the struggle with her back and the wrist operation. Currently ranked no.45, Belinda impressed in Dubai after claiming the scalp of 3 top10 players: Aryna Sabalenka, Simona Halep, and now Elina Svitolina.

The semifinal against the Ukrainian was extremely tough. Belinda started in the best possible way with a 5-1 lead to win the opener 6-2, but the struggle came soon after. Svitolina stormed back in style to claim the second set a conquer a decisive 5-3 lead in the second. That was the moment when Elina started to crumble as she lost 8 consecutive points (5-5) and soon after she managed to save 3 match points when she was 5-6 down. However, Elina didn’t find any solution in the breaker to lose 6-2 3-6 7-6 (3).

After the match, Belinda commented

“I think from 3-5, I just completely zoomed out. I think I was playing the same in the tie-break, even though I lost the match points. Somehow I was still focused, I don’t know why. I was barely breathing, just playing automatic. You are not thinking anymore. It’s where the instincts just guide you through it.”

Kvitova

Petra had also to win a tough semifinal against the unpredictable Su-Wei Hsieh. The Czech looked to be in deep waters when she lost 4 consecutive games (from 3-2 to 3-6) to find herself trailing 1-set-down. Fortunately for Kvitova, she found the solution immediately at the start of the second set to grab a quick 5-1 lead and bring the affair to the decider (6-2). The first set started with 3 consecutive breaks (2-1 for Petra and 1 break up) that set the tone for the rest of the match. Eventually, Petra didn’t blink anymore on serve, and she won the match 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Head to head Bencic vs. Kvitova

Petra has a glorious head to head record against Belinda Bencic as she leads 3-0 and she has never conceded a single set to the Swiss.

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