Charleston holds a special place in Belinda Bencic’s heart. Ranked No.140, Bencic made her tournament debut as a 17-year-old qualifier in 2014 and marched her way into her first WTA semifinal. Eight years later, Bencic closed the loop on her Charleston love affair, winning the Credit One Charleston Open for her first clay-court title and sixth overall.

Coming off a semifinal run at the Miami Open the week before, Bencic defeated two Top 10 players in Charleston to win her first title since 2019. The victory boosted the 25-year-old up to No.13 and set her up for her least-favorite section of the season.

Bencic spoke to WTA Insider after her win to reflect on her tricky start to the season and discuss the turning point that has triggered her current run.

WTA Insider: What does this title mean to you?

Bencic: I’m always so happy to come back here. I try to play this event every year. I think I maybe have missed out once. I just really love this tournament. For me, it’s an honor to win in the 50th anniversary and to be on the list of all the past champions who were here.

It meant a lot to me to even get to the final. But I always feel in the final you really have to push even harder to get over the line and get the win. So I’m just really, really happy and relieved.

WTA Insider: You’ve had a great run of form from Miami through Charleston, which is particularly impressive because of the surface change. It didn’t take you very long to adjust from hard court to clay.

Bencic: Yeah, it really didn’t. I had two days of clay preparation. Maybe this is the way, maybe it’s better that I’m not thinking about what I have to do and just kind of play the same tennis I have been playing in Miami.

After Doha and Indian Wells, we worked very hard to get back on track. I was starting to feel better physically, but obviously, I had to still get the practice in. We were working very hard…