Belinda Bencic will spend Christmas on a plane from the UAE to Australia but the Swiss youngster is not complaining, especially after she wrapped up her 2017 season with a title victory at the $100k Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge in Dubai on Saturday.
Bencic finished the year by claiming a 15th consecutive match win and a third title in a row by defeating Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic, who retired with a groin injury while down 4-6 in their final on Saturday afternoon.
“Definitely not the way I wanted to win. I’m very sad for Ajla but hopefully it’s really nothing too bad and just precautionary,” said the 20-year-old Bencic, who came back from wrist surgery in September and has won four trophies since.
“I won the tournament so I’m very happy about it, and obviously to finish the year with a win is great, that’s the first time I think I’ve done it so it feels good. I’m playing really good now so I’m happy about it.”
In the Dubai final, Bencic was the first to save break points in the match but inched ahead 4-3 by breaking the Tomljanovic serve. The Croatian then took an off-court medical timeout to treat a groin problem and broke back for 4-all upon her return. But Tomljanovic, clearly hampered in her movement, was broken at love the following game and she was forced to retire after dropping the opening set.
The 24-year-old apologised to the fans, who filled up the stand at the Habtoor Grand resort, for not being able to complete the final.
“First I just want to apologise for not finishing the match, trust me I probably feel worse than all of you,” Tomljanovic said.
The former top-50 player spent 13 months sidelined with a shoulder injury before returning to action end of last February. She was unranked when she started her season but will now rise to 118 when the new rankings come out on Monday.
“It wasn’t meant to be today,” said Tomljanovic. “It’s hard to look at positives now because all I want to do is play, you train to play the finals and today I couldn’t do it. The worst thing is I felt like I was playing really well and if I was healthy I could have had a good chance for a title and it sucks but if I wake up tomorrow feeling better than today it’s going to be a positive.”
Bencic, who was recovering from surgery between April and September, says the tournament was part of her preseason preparations and is glad that it paid off.
“It was a good preparation I think. I practiced more during the tournament and I feel better every match, physically as well, just the confidence, just my shots, and for sure I want to have now some days off then continue my preparation and then fly to Australia,” said Bencic, who will move up 24 spots and land at 74 when the new rankings come out.
The former world No. 7 begins her season by teaming up with Roger Federer representing Switzerland at the Hopman Cup in Perth (December 30 – January 6).
Bencic will spend the next 10 days training in Dubai, where several WTA players are also practicing including her good friend Kristina Mladenovic, Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and Greece’s Maria Sakkari.
“I’m actually going to be on the plane on Christmas. I’m staying here (in Dubai). I don’t think it’s very smart to go there and back,” said Bencic.
“It’s not my first time where I spend Christmas (in the heat) I spent a lot of time in Florida as well, so I’m used to it.”
Will she be hitting the practice courts with Mladenovic?
“Yes of course, we texted already and we’re going to see each other and hang out. We haven’t seen each other for so long but we’re in contact all the time. Also with the other players, it’s good to practice,” added Bencic.
With four titles captured within the last three months, surely Bencic will treat herself to something special to celebrate.
“I actually treated myself already, I went to the mall with my mum and I bought her some presents and everything, she’ll know on Christmas. I don’t really need much, I’ll just have a day off at the pool, not too much and that’s going to be a treat I think,” she said with a smile.
