Belinda Bencic has put a winning stamp on her comeback to competition after maternity break, winning the WTA 500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi open, clinching her first title since almost 2 years. Sunday was also the summit of the event in Romania, where Anastasia Potapova won her 3rd career title, making a job done as the seed number one in Cluj.
Abu Dhabi finalists came out of the shadows
Bencic was facing Ashlyn Krueger in the final and both the best players of the event in UAE wrote a great story during this week. Krueger advanced into her first ever WTA 500 level title match after making 4 upsets in a row in Abu Dhabi. The American defeated her compatriot Mccartney Kessler in a thrilling three-setter, then made an upset over last year's finalist Daria Kasatkina, also in three sets, being down 1-6 and a break in second set. Leylah Fernandez was another hurdle to pass on the whole distance, while the semis against Linda Noskova was the only one straight sets match played by Krueger this week. The odds were against her whole the week, respectively - 2.20, 2.36, 2.27, 2.45 and 2.77 against Bencic.
The Swiss was missed in action whole the last year for the obvious reasons, but the class did not leave her, which was clearly seen during her comeback in January's events in Australia. Bencic's draw in Abu Dhabi was also not a cakewalk. Despite losing a set in the opener against Rebecca Sramkova, Bencic threatened her rivals by an unusual whitewash victory over Veronika Kudermetova in second round. She approached the semis against title holder Elena Rybakina, which promised a huge clash, and that was surely the best quality match of the whole WTA week. Bencic made a little upset against the Kazakh, as it was the only one match when she was rated lower than her opponent before the start, but slightly though as her odd was just 2.24.
The former world number 4 needed some time to click the gear again in the final, but despite losing first set by 4-6 against Krueger, she dominated the whole match till the end, leaving just two games to her opponent since then and won by 4-6 6-1 6-1. This will not take too long to come back where she belongs, as Bencic has jumped into 65th place in WTA ranking on Monday, having just three events under her belt. All of those ended up with at least three wins in tally, and the Swiss is clearly ready to play for the biggest prizes against top 10 opponents just out of the box, being a force to reckon this year. Krueger has also all the reasons to celebrate, as the young 20 y/o player from USA moves up into 40th place, being her highest rank in career, giving the door open for main draws of almost all the biggest events this season.
Eventful week in Romania
Anastasia Potapova seized the opportunity to grab some good points and gain of confidence while travelling to Cluj Napoca as a top seed in Romanian WTA 250 event. She played the top seed role in a perfect way, moving into final without any brushes, not losing any single set on the road. She played against two sensations of this week in later stages. Ella Seidel - the 19 y/o German, delivered an impressive performance while moving into her first WTA level quarterfinal. The youngster made an upset over the local best performer - 8th seed Jaqueline Cristian and defeated Anna Blinkova, much more experienced, former top 40 player. Throughout the tournament, Seidel displayed remarkable composure under pressure and a steady, well-rounded game that suggests she could soon be a regular top tier player in the tour.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich was another player who wrote a surprising story in Cluj. The Belarusian lost in straight sets to Sara Sorribes Tormo in qualifying. However, she found her place in main draw as a lucky loser and used her opportunity to move as deep as into semis. Especially her quarterfinal's clash against Anhelina Kalinina was a cracker, which found the settlement in 3rd set tiebreak.
Both Seidel and Sasnovich had no serious chances against Potapova though, who faced Lucia Bronzetti in the final. The Italian participated in the most emotional moment during this week. She defeated the former Grand Slam champion and world number one - Simona Halep, who decided to retire from professional tenis during a tournament in home country. The Romanian star was not able to fully comeback after being cleared of doping changes last year. The injury struggles, especially with knee issues, did not allow Halep to fully commit in competition again, so she decided to end up her career after tough loss to Bronzetti, who defeated the local hero by 6-1 6-1. Bronzetti was super consistent during whole the week, and played a very competitive final against Potapova as well. The Italian was the only one to drop a set from a top seed, but the final match had a simillar course as the one from Abu Dhabi. The favorite started slowly, to click the gear again since second set and won by 4-6 6-1 6-2. The Russian climbs up into 31th place, starting her reinassance after difficult 2024 year. Bronzetti moves 16 spots to 72th place.
