Jabeur comes back to win against Bencic in Abu Dhabi

Unlike previous years the Mubadala World Tennis Championship hosted a WTA match this year and it was Ons Jabeur and Belinda Bencic who played against each other. Initially, it was supposed to be Emma Raducanu but after contracting the COVID-19 virus, Raducanu was forced to abandon her plans. Instead, it was Jabeur that got the chance to play and she did not disappoint.

The first set was a very closely contested one with good early play by both. We did not see any chances for either player until the finish of the set when Bencic took a 5-3 lead. She lost her serve when trying to win the set to make it 5-4 but broke Jabeur once more to win it with 6-4. In the 2nd set, Jabeur stormed back into the match in a furious fashion.

She completely outplayed Bencic who saw her error numbers explode as her rhythm was gone. Jabeur took a 2-0 lead, then a 5-0 lead with a chance to gift her opponent a bagel. She lost her serve when serving for it and once more at 5-2 to make it 5-3 but broke Bencic one more time for the 6-3 2nd set finish. A championship tiebreak followed with the winner being the first to reach 10 points.

Jabeur carried good momentum with herself into the extended tiebreak jumping out to a 4-0 lead which became a 7-3 lead not long after that. Her first match point came at 9-5 with Bencic able to save a couple to make it 9-8. Ultimately Jabeur closed it out with 10-8.