Story of Dubai 2019: Bencic's magical run
The best pictures from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
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The tournament kicked off with a popcorn match between No.12 seed Garbiñe Muguruza and Dayana Yastremska - their third meeting in five months, and a first win for the Spaniard 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Qualifier Magdalena Frech, making her Premier 5 debut, pushed Daria Kasatkina to the brink of defeat... (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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...but Kasatkina escaped 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to seal her first WTA-level win of 2019 (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Omani wildcard Fatma Al Nabhani, competing in her second Dubai main draw, fell to Kristina Mladenovic in the first round (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Dominika Cibulkova sealed her first win of 2019 in three sets over Lara Arruabarrena (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Zheng Saisai displayed fine touch and variety in defeating Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the first round (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Zhu Lin caused a major shock, eliminating Doha champion Elise Mertens in the first round 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Trailblazing Tunisian Ons Jabeur delighted the crowd with a first-round win over Donna Vekic (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Alison Riske had pushed Julia Goerges all the way last week in Doha - and in the first round this week finished the upset 6-4, 7-5 (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Jelena Ostapenko serves to Jennifer Brady during their first-round clash (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Qualifier Jennifer Brady sprung back-to-back upsets over Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Garcia (DDF Tennis/Regi Varghese)
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Katerina Siniakova pushed No.2 seed Petra Kvitova all the way in a second-round epic... (Jimmie48/WTA)
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...but Kvitova roared back for a 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 win (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Lucky loser Dalila Jakupovic took a shock 5-1 lead over No.5 seed Angelique Kerber... (Jimmie48/WTA)
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...but Kerber bounced back to take their second-round clash in straight sets (Jimmie48/WTA)
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20-year-old Viktoria Kuzmova notched up her first Top 10 scalp, saving a match point to upset No.7 seed Kiki Bertens (DDF Tennis/Jorge Ferrari)
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World No.1 Naomi Osaka, fresh off a split with coach Sascha Bajin, never got going in her second-round clash with Kristina Mladenovic (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Mladenovic had previously scored two wins over World No.2s, but her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Osaka was the Frenchwoman's first defeat of a reigning World No.1 (Jimmie48/WTA)
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No.3 seed Simona Halep came through a tight two-setter against Eugenie Bouchard in the second round (DDF Tennis/Jorge Ferrari)
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Hsieh Su-Wei sliced her way past No.10 seed Anastasija Sevastova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first two rounds in straight sets (DDF Tennis/Jorge Ferrari)
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Carla Suárez Navarro scored her ninth win over Barbora Strycova in 10 meetings in the second round, and has not dropped a set to the Czech since 2009 (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Karolina Pliskova battled past Dominika Cibulkova in the final late-night second-round tie (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Pliskova's 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 defeat of Cibulkova was just the Czech's second win in five meetings (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Petra Kvitova had to be fully concentrated to see off Jennifer Brady in three sets. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Viktoria Kuzmova fought back from losing the first set to overcome Sofia Kenin. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Simona Halep feels the heat in her match against Lesia Tsurenko. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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The WTA World No.2 was delighted to get off court after just 81 minutes. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Hsieh Su-Wei worked her magic to overcome No.5 seed Angelique Kerber, winning the deciding set 6-0. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Carla Suárez Navarro won through in two tight sets against a resurgent Kristina Mladenovic. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Karolina Pliskova ties her shoelace during her tough 7-6(3), 7-6(5) victory over Alison Riske. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Elina Svitolina’s fine form continued as she needed little over an hour to defeat Garbiñe Mugurza. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Aryna Sabalenka had a frustrating time of it against Belinda Bencic. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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After the opening two sets were shared, the Swiss won through 9-7 in the decided set’s tiebreak. (Jimmie48/WTA)
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Hsieh Su-Wei took the first set in her quarterfinal against Karolina Pliskova. (Getty)
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The No.4 seed hit back and established a 5-1 lead in the deciding set. (Getty)
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The WTA World No.31 completed one of the comebacks of the year to win six games in a row to claim a semifinal spot. (Getty)
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Viktoria Kuzmova in action against Petra Kvitova. (Getty)
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Kvitova proved a runaway winner, taking the match in little over an hour, 6-4, 6-0. (Getty)
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Everything went according to plan for WTA World No.2 Simona Halep in her first set against Belinda Bencic. (Getty)
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Bencic hit back in the second to take the match to a decider. (Getty)
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The Swiss then completed a stunning victory by winning the decider, 6-2. (Getty)
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Elina Svitolina enjoyed straightforward progress as she won through, 6-2, 6-3, against Carla Suárez Navarro. (Getty)
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Hsieh Su-Wei took the first set in her semi against Petra Kvitova. (Getty)
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The No.2 seed hit back in what was a clash of styles. (Getty)
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And it was the higher-ranked player who eventually won through after more than two hours. (Getty)
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The second semifinal between Belinda Bencic and Elina Svitolina was equally dramatic. (Getty)
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Svitolina lost the first but pushed the match all the way to a tiebreak in the deciding set. (Getty)
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Bencic, who had already beaten Aryna Sabalenka and Simona Halep this week, claimed another Top 10 scalp. (Getty)
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Belinda Bencic had won just five games from Petra Kvitova at the Australian Open, but was sharp in winning her first ever set from the Czech in the Dubai final (Getty)
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However, Kvitova hit back to take a dominant second set to level the score (Getty)
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As the match headed to its climax, it was Kvitova who fell away in the third set (Getty)
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Bencic showed her joy at closing out a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 win over Kvitova to signal a return to the top of the game after years of injury problems (Getty)
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Dubai was Bencic's third career title, and first in nearly four years - since Toronto 2015, where the Swiss had also beaten four consecutive Top 10 players to lift the trophy (Getty)
