Belinda Bencic faced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her opening match in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. The two had met 6 times previously, with Bencic leading the head to head with 5 wins.
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A very poor start by Anastasia in the opening set was quickly forgotten as she came back with renewed fight and determination in the next two sets to win the match 1-6, 6-1, 6-1.
First Set: Easy pickings for Belinda Bencic
Belinda got off to a great start in the opening set, breaking Pavlyuchenkova in second game to go 2-0 up. The Swiss was serving quite well too as she consolidated the break with a hold to love.
The Russian looked shaken with the poor start and played a very tentative service game, unable to get her first serve in. She quickly went down -40 and hit an untimelt double fault to give Bencic her second break in the set.
There was no looking back after that as Bencic continued to hold serve well. Pavlyuchenkova looked completely lost in the set. It looked more like a practice match for Belinda than a competition. The Swiss took the first set 6-1 and looked very much in command of the match.