Belinda Bencic overcomes Marta Kostyuk challenge to advance through to quarter-finals at Abu Dhabi Open

Belinda Bencic is into the quarter-finals of the Abu Dhabi Open after surviving a scare against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.

No. 2 seed Bencic booked her place in the last eight with a straight-sets win but had to battle back from 5-3 down in the second to seal a 6-4 7-5 win.

“I was expecting it to be a tough match against Marta,” said the Swiss star. “I’m happy with how everything went, maybe some things I can improve, but it’s always nice to get the first [win].”

Bencic dominated on serve in the first set, winning 94% of her first service points and converting her second break point in the seventh game to take control and eventually the lead.

An early break in the second set looked to put her on her way, but the Ukrainian world No. 57 Kostyuk rallied to break back twice, earning the opportunity to serve for the set as she looked to level and force a decider.

But Bencic kept her cool and rattled off four games in a row to eventually take the win.

The world No. 9 set up a clash with American Shelby Rogers, who advanced to the quarters after Anett Kontaveit of Estonia retired in the third set of their match, trailing 4-1 having taken a set each.

Elsewhere, Qinwen Zheng beat Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(10) 6-1, while Veronika Kudermetova dispatched Elise Mertens 6-1 7-5.

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