Bencic Battles Past Sakkari In Berlin, Will Face Jabeur In Final

Belinda Bencic had to dig deep to get past Maria Sakkari needing just over three hours to put away Maria Sakkari 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 to return to the final in Berlin.

“I thought that was an incredible match,” Bencic said after the marathon. “We both kind of pushed really hard, we both didn’t give each other anything. I think it was high quality, of course we held our serves as much as we could, and I really felt like we put on a show there.”

Bencic broke Sakkari for the win at 5-4 in the third. Into her 15th career final, Bencic will seek her seventh title against Ons Jabeur. The Tunisian handled the teen Coco Gauff 7-6(4), 6-2 in her semifinal. Gauff was trying to make her first grass final and break into the Top 10.

This will be there third meeting of the season having split two on the clay, including the Charleston final won by Bencic.

Last year, Bencic lost in the final to Liudmila Samsonova. Jabeur has made the finals now in four of her last six events. She’s in her 8th career final.

Both are seeking their second career grass court title.