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Home , Belinda Bencic, Eugenie Bouchard, Tsvetana Pironkova

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EASTBOURNE: ’s (left) poses with the trophy and second placed Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska after the women’s final match at the WTA tournament. — AFP Bencic ends title drought

EASTBOURNE: Belinda Bencic defeated Agnieszka taking the second to level after Bencic came back from an Radwanska 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 at Eastbourne yesterday to win the early break but lost the set with a long. first title of her career and hailed the influence of superstar In the third, the Swiss quickly recovered her poise to run compatriot . away to the win in just over two hours. “I was very focused The trophy breakthrough for the 18-year-old Swiss and really I played very free. I was disappointed I didn’t denied the ninth-seeded Pole, and 2012 Wimbledon final- close out the second set. I was also starting to get tired,” ist, a second title at Devonshire Park on the English south said Bencic. coast. “It was a lot of running and, yeah, long rallies. After the Bencic, coached part-time by Hingis and by Hingis’s 3-0 (third set) I relaxed a little bit and could close it out very mother Melanie Molitor, was playing in the third final of good.” Radwanska, close to tears in the trophy ceremony, her career. She was beaten this month in the grass-court committed nearly 50 unforced errors. “I’m happy to have final at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands by Italian played the final, I tried my best but Belinda was better . today. After I won the second set I knew things could The youngster credited the Hingis team with “teaching change quickly,” said the Pole. me everything I know”. “Martina gives me a lot of good “But it was a very tight match and I was just not there in advice, not just this week but all the time. Also I practice the third set.” Bencic, still on a high after her first title, must with her mom, so she’s my coach when I’m back at home. now turn her thoughts to Wimbledon. “Of course they have been big influence on my game.” “I play Monday first round, (a Bencic got away to a treble break in the third set for 5-0 Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2010) is not an easy draw. as she finished the job against the 2008 Eastbourne cham- “Tomorrow I have to recover very good and practice a little pion with a winner to the corner. “This is the bit, and then I really need to focus on that first round biggest day of my career,” said the world number 31 who because it’s not very easy.”But I’m not thinking about win- will rise 10 places after her maiden trophy. ning it “ Bencic benefited from two injury retirements in “This is a dream come true. I’m so happy to win my first Eastbourne ( and ), title. I woke up very nervous this morning and even in spending only 13 minutes on court in her semi-final when practise I was nervous. “But once on the court I tried to Wozniacki stopped after three games with a back problem. fight for every point, I tried my best.” Radwanska had been bidding for the 15th trophy of her Bencic, who finished with 41 winners and 22 unforced career and second on grass. Bencic, second-youngest errors, won the opening set in just under an hour. member of the WTA top 100, improved her career grass- Radwanska denied the teenager a straight sets victory by court record to 11-2. — AFP Sharapova on the mend in time for Wimbledon LONDON: claims she is back to full fit- Club yesterday. ness just in time for Wimbledon after suffering a health “I think you guys saw how I was (in Paris). I was going scare in the build-up to the . through it and I was trying to kind of battle every symp- Sharapova flew home to California for tests on the tom that I had for a week or so during the , ‘flu that proved impossible to shake off during the and a few days before. French Open and ruined her defence of the Roland “I’m much better now, thankfully. It was great to be Garros crown. able to be on the court and not have to cough or blow The 28-year-old Russian crashed out in the fourth my nose a hundred times and all those things. “That’s round in Paris as she battled an illness that left her kind of annoying when you’re just trying to become a struggling to catch her breath between coughing fits. great tennis player.” On numerous occasions during her 7-6, 6-4 defeat Although her faltering health stopped the world against Lucie Safarova, Sharapova was seen blowing her number four from playing in a Wimbledon warm-up nose on court and, when the heavy cold still hadn’t event, Sharapova is still confident of making a run at her cleared after her exit, she decided to get checked out first All England Club title since winning there as a before being given the all-clear by doctors. teenager in 2004. “I was hoping I could play a warm-up tournament “It took a little while for me to really refresh and leading up to Wimbledon. But due to the circumstances, recover and give myself just a chance to feel good again the way I was feeling, actually I had to go back home and get back to work,” added Sharapova, who last made and do some tests, run through all that,” the five-time the Wimbledon final in 2011 and opens her latest chal- Grand Slam champion told reporters at the All England lenge against British wildcard . — AFP