MY ACCOUNT
Ons Jabeur won the Berlin Open to seal her third career title following Belinda Bencic’s retirement in the second set.
The win sees Jabeur rise to a career-high of number three in the world as the Tunisian – who was winning 6-3 2-1 when Bencic succumbed to an ankle injury – capitalised on her top seed position for the tournament.
With Jabeur on serve to clinch the first set, Bencic rolled her ankle and required treatment in a three-minute medical timeout – with Jabeur swiftly nosing herself ahead on the restart with an ace.
Olympic gold medallist Bencic pushed to continue but came to the net to retire when trailing 2-1 in the second set, taking Jabeur’s tally of wins in 2022 to 30, a total that is only bettered by world number one Iga Swiatek.
Victory marked Jabeur’s second title of 2022, with the 27-year-old having previously won the Madrid Open.
Jabeur had plenty of support from the crowd throughout the tournament, and said: “I cannot forget how amazing the crowd is, Tunisians are amazing, thank you for coming. I hope I can come back next year, it’s been great to come back to Berlin.”
Bencic paid tribute to her opponent following the game, saying: “You deserve this title, I really don’t want to take this moment away from you because I think you played incredible tennis.
“This is the best tennis of your life, so I hope you continue. You gave me a really hard time, maybe it was one serve too much for me. This is your moment so I want you to enjoy it and focus on your title.”
Jabeur continues her Wimbledon preparations at Eastbourne next week, competing in both the singles and doubles event – she will play alongside Serena Williams – while Bencic will be hoping to recover in time to feature in the season’s third grand slam.
