EASTBOURNE, England – Belinda Bencic defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 4-6 6-0 yesterday to win the first WTA title of her career at Eastbourne and hailed the influence of superstar compatriot Martina Hingis.
The trophy breakthrough for the 18-year-old Swiss denied the ninth-seeded Pole, and 2012 Wimbledon finalist, a second title at Devonshire Park on the English south coast. Bencic, coached part-time by Martina Hingis and by Hingis’s mother Melanie Molitor, was playing in the third final of her career.
The 2013 Wimbledon girls champion was beaten this month in the grass-court final at Den Bosch in the Netherlands by Italian Camila Giorgi.
