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Belinda Bencic completed back-to-back in the last two days and how she has won her first WTA title as a mom at the WTA 500 tournament in Abu Dhabi.
On Saturday, the world No. 157 - who played in Abu Dhabi as a wildcard - came back from a set down emphatically to beat world No. 51 Ashlyn Krueger in the final 4-6 6-1 6-1.
A day earlier, the former world No. 4 also recovered from a set down to outlast top seed and defending champion Elena Rybakina 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Against Krueger, Bencic made a pretty inconsistent start as even though she claimed three breaks, she stunningly lost her serve four times and dropped the opener.
But after struggling mightily on her serve in the opener, the Swiss drastically raised her level in the second set and easily forced a decider after registering three breaks and not losing her serve even once.
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The third set was a similar story as the former world No. 4 broke Krueger twice and firmly held on to her serve to complete her comeback.
Bencic had 'worries' but now she has her first WTA titles as a mother
After welcoming a baby girl Bella in April, the 27-year-old kicked off her comeback by playing some WTA 125 tournaments in very late 2024.
This week, she admitted that she was worried about how her level would look after returning from a 15-month absence.
"I was really worried that the speed of the ball and the speed of how the girls are serving now, and returning and everything, would be maybe a bit too much, or a little bit too early for me," Bencic said this week.
"But I'm also someone that plays fast, and I'm happy to see it's not such a big difference. The most I saw is that I have to work physically very hard."
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Besides Krueger and Rybakina, the Swiss also beat Rebecca Sramkova, Veronika Kudermetova and Marketa Vondrousova en route to winning the title.
