By Chris Oddo | Monday, February 16th, 2015
Venus Williams won her 16th consecutive match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.
Photo Source: Francois Neil/Getty
Three-time and defending champ Venus Williams surged into the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 6-1, 6-2 win over 17-year-old Belinda Bencic.
The victory over the young Swiss, who is half Williams’ age, was Williams 16th straight at Dubai. Williams, who has won the event the last three times she has attended, has not lost in Dubai since 2005, when she lost to Silvia Farina Elia of Italy.
Remarkably, Williams has won her last 25 sets consecutively in Dubai. She did not drop a set in her title runs of 2014 and 2010. In 2009 she won her final three sets, last dropping the second set of her semifinal victory over Serena Williams.
Williams broke Bencic's serve five times in 12 opportunities to keep distance between herself and the quickly rising Swiss star, who is coached by Martina Hingis’ mother, Melanie Molitor.
"She's a really good player,” Williams said, according to WTAtennis.com. “She's had a great year in the last year. I haven't played her since the French, but I think she's improved since then, and she definitely makes you hit a lot of balls."
Williams is the only player to have reached the third round at Dubai. The rest of Monday’s matches were first round battles. Most notably was Daniela Hantuchova’s 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Mona Barthel. Hantuchova, who won the Thailand Open on Sunday, emerged from a six hour flight with only an hour of sleep to get the victory.
Shuai Peng, Karolina Pliskova, Lucie Safarova and Garbine Muguruza were also first-round winners on Monday in Dubai.
You can view the complete draw here