Dubai: New Dubai champion Belinda Bencic struck out one more off her to-do list when she went for a skydiving session at Skydive Dubai on Sunday.
A day after coming out a winner in three sets against world No. 4 Petra Kvitova, the 21-year-old Bencic proceeded to Skydive Dubai’s facility on The Palm to fulfil her desire against her dad Ivan’s advice.
“My dad is saying ‘Why risk your life?’. But I think there is no risk. Bunjee jumping is worse. I don’t want bunjee jump, but skydiving is on my to-do list,” an excited Bencic said. “We have to do it anyway in my life and we can do it now. I’m providing a lot of heart attacks on the court, and now I’m going to provide heart attacks off the court.”
Bencic, who had reached a career-best world No. 7, defeated four top-ten players en route to becoming the Dubai champion late on Saturday.
Following her first two wins against qualifier Lucie Hradecka and lucky loser Stefanie Voegele, Bencic went on a roll defeating three of the world’s top-10s — Aryna Sabalenka, two-time defending champion Elina Svitolina and Simona Halep — before packing off world No. 4 Kvitova.
Bencic admitted that it was her fitness, both physical and mental, that had helped her clinch her third career title on the WTA Tour.
“This is definitely the fittest I’ve ever felt. I think it’s showing a lot in my game. I think we did amazing work last year,” she said.
Saturday’s win also marked a productive week in Dubai for Bencic, who is set to leapfrog to No. 23 from No. 45 in the fresh WTA Rankings to be announced on Monday. This will be the first time since late 2016 that the Swiss is breaking into the Top-30 of the rankings.
“They are all high-quality players and I’m so happy about the consistency that I could back up my wins. After playing a tough match [against Kvitova], I could mentally win another one,” Bencic related.
