ABU DHABI: Second seed Belinda Bencic got her campaign up and running with a victory to progress to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, on a day in which China’s rising star Qinwen Zheng stunned fifth seed Jelena Ostapenko.
At the International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City, Bencic was made to work in her first match of the tournament, winning 6-4, 7-5 against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
Bencic made the perfect start to the match, taking the first set 6-4 and led early in the second set. However Kostyuk rallied to go 5-3 up before Bencic levelled the score at 5-5.
The Swiss then broke again to go 6-5 and held her serve to win 7-5. Speaking after the match, she said: “It was a good first match of the tournament for me and it was tough for me.