Double bagel, second week of a Grand Slam, runner-up: Bencic is on a roll in comeback spell
Belinda Bencic, who recently played in her first Australian Open as a mother, reached the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open quarter-finals by defeating Veronika Kudermetova 6-0, 6-0 on Wednesday
Zuma / Psnewz
When it’s going well, one fears jinxing it but what Belinda Bencic has been doing in her comeback spell since October 2024 can’t not be celebrated.
Bencic played her first competitive match on return at the ITF W75 Hamburg on October 30, 2024, after a year-long maternity break and claimed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Julia Avdeeva, with her sixth-month-old daughter Bella resting in the stands under her boyfriend Martin Hramkovic’s watch.
In the following couple of months before the year-end, the Swiss’ on-court exploits made it evident she hadn’t picked up the racquet again without a mission. In a week’s time from Hamburg, she made it to the quarter-finals at W75 Petange 003.
30 days later, she fought against No 3 seed Alycia Parks in the Open In Arte Angers Loire title clash, however, ending as a runner-up (lost 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-0).
She made her WTA return by signing up for the Adelaide International qualifiers at the turn of the year and succeeded in making the main draw by defeating Moyuka Uchijima and Laura Siegemund in straight sets. The former world No 4 received a walkover against No 7 seed Anna Kalinskaya (6-2, 1-0) in the first round there but couldn’t overcome Liudmila Samsonova in the second (7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4).
Bencic stuns Ostapenko on Grand Slam return
Bencic undertook her first Grand Slam duty on return at the 2025 Australian Open and stunned Jelena Ostapenko, the No 16 seed from Latvia, in the first round (6-3, 7-6 (6)). She then eliminated Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens in the second round (6-1, 7-6 (3)) and Naomi Osaka (walkover 7-6 (3)) in the third to reach the second week of the Melbourne Grand Slam.
In the fourth-round fight, she met world No 3 Coco Gauff and came out all guns blazing, taking the opening set. Gauff, however, regrouped in time to prevail (5-7, 6-2, 6-1) and stop Bencic’s spirited run at Melbourne Park.
Seeing the WTA star spring back in a short span, a journalist at the Australian Open couldn’t help but ask if motherhood had been the additional motivation.
“I don’t know if it’s extra motivation,” Bencic replied. “I feel like I always have motivation to play. I do this obviously for myself. I think it gives me more kind of, like, relaxed mode because I think I always want to do my best. Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself.
Now I feel like it’s a bit easier to play because there’s something more important than tennis.”
In another presser, Bencic revealed her goal is to climb the WTA rankings and put herself among the best competitors on the biggest of stages again.
“To be honest, like before I would always have more expectations if I would have bigger results, but it’s not the case here. I mean, I don’t even have to remind myself. I think like my body just tells me. If I see Bella, I just see her being only eight-and-a-half months now. Really happy with how the comeback is going,” the world No 157 said, adding:
“I don’t really feel like my expectations are coming back. I’m just happy with every match I get to play. Obviously on this level it’s very different. I feel like I can improve and get better. Obviously it’s tough to say, but it’s not really about, winning right now. It’s really about improving myself and getting back there, you know, to be able to kind of also play the biggest tournaments again and be up there ranking-wise.”
Bencic dishes out a double bagel in Abu Dhabi
On Wednesday (February 7), Bencic made allshe had done in the recent few months look like the tip of an iceberg as she double bageled world No 16 Veronika Kudermetova (6-0, 6-0) in the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open Round of 16.
In the opening round, she overcame Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova (6-2, 3-6, 6-1) and is up against former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the quarter-finals.
The win has already propelled her to world No 126 in live rankings and further success in Abu Dhabi would take her closer to the top 100.
