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Belinda Bencic has recorded another very impressive win early in her post-pregnancy as the Swiss annihilated qualifier Aoi Ito 6-0 6-2 in her opening match at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai.
After winning her first title as a mom at the Abu Dhabi Open last week, the former world No. 4 returned to action today and pushed her winning streak to six matches.
World No. 120 Ito, who won two qualifying matches in straight sets in the last two days, couldn't do anything at the start of the match as the Swiss tennis star absolutely dominated early on an opened a 6-0 2-0 lead.
In the third game of the second set, the Japanese finally managed to get on the board but only after saving three break points.
However, Bencic remained unfazed and collected another break in the fifth game before closing out the match on her serve three games later.
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In only an hour and three minutes of play, the current world No. 65 converted five of 10 of her break point chances, all while not facing a single break point in her own service games.
In the Dubai second round, the recent Abu Dhabi champion will battle against No. 8 seed Emma Navarro.
Bencic was close to pulling off another double bagel
In Abu Dhabi, the 27-year-old destroyed Veronika Kudermetova 6-0 6-0.
Today, she was very close to clinching another double-bagel win but Ito prevented it after winning two games in the second set.
Nonetheless, it was yet another very strong win for Bencic.
"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," she said after beating Kudermetova.
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"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."
