Belinda Bencic earned the 15th top-ten win of her career when she beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 2-6 7-6(7) to advance to her first WTA Premier quarter-final since 2015.
On the last occasion when the Swiss player reached the last eight of a premier event, she went on to lift the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
However, she has been unable to cement her place in the tennis elite since then due to a lengthy run of bad luck with injuries.
To her immense credit, Bencic, 21, has never given up despite those setbacks and her run in Dubai has already ensured she will be back inside the world’s top 40 when the rankings are updated next Monday.
When the Swiss spoke on court after her victory, she seemed stunned about the way she won after saving six match points.
“I’m not sure why I won,” Bencic said. “I was in the locker room five times already taking a shower and still I won the match.”
“I think we both played great. Aryna’s a great player and I think we both deserved to win. I was a little bit lucky in the end.”
She continued, “I played the match points with my back to the wall. I had nothing to lose and I cannot believe that it turned around.”
Bencic makes strong start but Sabalenka roars back

Bencic made an impressive start to the match when she returned superbly to race into a 5-1 lead. She then gathered herself after a fightback from Sabalenka to close out the opening set 6-4.
In the second set, it was a different story, as the powerful Belarussian demonstrated why she has risen from 60 to nine in the world rankings in the last twelve months with a stream of eye-catching winners.
That relentless hitting enabled Sabalenka to take the set 6-2, and the decider looked to be following a similar pattern when she moved 3-1 and then 5-3 ahead.
However, Bencic is a fighter, and she broke back twice to get the set back on serve at 5-4. She then saved two match points as she held to make it 5-5.
The drama was far from over, as Bencic hit three brilliant winners from match point down on serve at 5-6 to take the match into a final set tie-break.
It still looked as if Sabalenka would win the match when the Swiss made two double-faults and fell 4-1 behind. But Bencic refused to give in. She saved two more match points before seizing her first chance to seal victory when she coaxed the Belarussian into an error.
In her on-court interview, the Swiss shared a tactical insight into what it takes to beat Sabalenka. “It’s really tough to play her because she hits so hard,” Bencic said. “You have to risk sometimes and try to play a little bit faster.”
The Swiss player’s reward for her hard-fought victory is an exciting clash with Simona Halep. “She’s a champion,” Bencic said. “But I have nothing to lose anymore; I can only win. I’m really happy about this tournament already so everything now is a bonus.”