Mission complete for the number two seed Roberta Vinci in St Petersburg as she defeated top seed Belinda Bencic to capture her 10th career title. It was a high quality final with the Italian playing some God-made tennis in order to defeat her young counterpart in straight sets.
Vinci Gets Crucial Break to Take Opening Set
Belinda Bencic won the toss and selected to receive. The big final started with Vinci taking the lead with two holds and an important break of Bencic's serve for a 3-0 advantage. The hot shots had started already with the Italian's forehand on fire. It gave a lot of trouble to the youngster, while Vinci was very comfortable at the net. Without possessing a killer shot, Bencic gave enough time to her experienced opponent to exploit the pace of her ground strokes. Bencic was basically caught in Vinci's web in the opening set.
Bencic would take a coaching time out as nerves seemed to be playing a big part in her early deficit. It definitely helped as the Swiss held and then broke her opponent's serve to trail 3-2. Bencic was avoiding the slice more and more, while putting a lot of pressure on her counterpart's forehand. Two consecutive breaks followed with both players finding some incredible returns. Vinci took a coaching timeout with a 4-3 lead and the errors would come to the Italian's game as the 18-year-old would tie the score for the first time at 4-4.
The 2015 U.S Open finalist stepped up with some good serving and with vintage play as she held and then broke Bencic to put the first set in the bag at 6-4. Vinci played incredible tennis, dominating at the net with depth from her backhand and an attacking forehand. She also did a nice job turning defense into offense against the top seed.
Veni, Vidi, Vinci
The second set started competitive with an exchange of holds. Bencic was trying to mix the things up with Vinci reacting and making the rallies really enjoyable. Three consecutive games for the Italian would follow as she broke and consolidated to lead 4-1. Bencic was showing fatigue and fell victim to the Vinci slice. The Italian was also serving well and kept exploiting her opponent's ground strokes. The match would end with both players holding serve as the Italian claimed match point on her own serve for the 6-4, 6-3 victory. It was a great performance by Vinci and a high quality final. The Italian said after the match that Bencic still has plenty of time in front of her and will leave Russia on a high as she moves into the top ten.
Final Stats
The stats showed a mostly flawless performance by the new champion. Vinci ended the match with a +20 margin in winners to unforced errors. She won 17 out of the 25 points at the net. and did well to get her first serve in regularly at 73 percent. Bencic had 17 winners to 14 unforced errors and a mediocre conversion in break points. The Swiss only took advantage of two opportunities out of the six that she saw.
Both players are heading to Dubai next for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Vinci opens her campaign with a qualifier, while Bencic has a tough match-up with former world number one Jelena Jankovic.