German Open: Bencic overcomes Sakkari to reach final

Berlin, June 18 : Switzerlands Belinda Bencic reached the final of the German Open after beating Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 in a gruelling semifinal, here on Saturday.

With this win, Bencic is now 4-2 lifetime against Top-10 players on grass, as she moves into the fifth grass-court final of her career.

She seeks her second grass-court title, with her first coming at Eastbourne in 2015.The 25-year-old, who lost to Liudmila Samsonova in last years Berlin final, was dominant behind her backhand, of which she had 19 of her 41 winners during the 3 hours and 7 minutes long match.

Last years Olympic gold medallist Bencic is now 1-1 against Sakkari at the tour level.Sakkari had previously topped the Swiss player in the 2020 St.Petersburg quarterfinals on indoor hard court.Bencic held a set point at 6-5 in the first-set tiebreak, but Sakkari erased that chance.

The Greek then fired a backhand winner to garner her first set point at 7-6.A return winner off the net cord gave Sakkari the first set after 72 topsy-turvy minutes.In the second set, though, Bencic grabbed the lead with aplomb, holding at love for 5-4 with three straight backhand winners followed by an ace.Bencic then converted her fifth break point of the next game with a return winner, leveling the match.For the second set in a row, there were no breaks through 5-4 as the third set stayed closely contested.

But once again, Bencic took her chance in the tenth game, converting her third match point by following up a strong backhand with a putaway winner.avn/bsk #German #Bencic #overcomes #Sakkari.