New Mom Bencic Beats Former Wimbledon Champion Vondrousova To Continue Abu Dhabi Run
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Belinda Bencic continued her sensational run at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open by beating former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova.
In recent years, many tennis players have decided to become mothers and return to competing on the WTA Tour. Serena Williams was one of them, and she was followed by the likes of Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, and also Belinda Bencic.
Bencic welcomed her first child in April last year, and since then, she has been working hard to return to the Top 10 of the WTA Rankings, where she once belonged.
The 27-year-old Swiss player showed glimpses of her old form multiple times since returning to the courts. She was successful at almost every event that she played, including the Australian Open. She reached the fourth round at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
After that, Bencic chose to start her Middle Eastern stretch sooner than the rest of the players who will compete at the Qatar Open in Doha, which is a WTA 1000 tournament.
The Swiss player knows that she can use her protected ranking only for a limited number of tournaments, so earning valuable ranking points is important for her to get back to the top. That will allow her to enter tournaments through her regular ranking.
In Abu Dhabi, Bencic bested Rebecca Sramkova in the first round, and in the second round, she destroyed Veronika Kudermetova 6-0, 6-0. Her quarter-final opponent was Marketa Vondrousova.
The Czech player has struggled with an injury at the start of this season, which is why she missed the Australian Open. But she played well in Abu Dhabi, beating Emma Raducanu in the first round, and then also eliminating Yulia Putintseva.
These two players met three times before this match, and the Swiss player won two of those matches. She got off to a better start also this time, even though she later lost her advantage.
Bencic led already 3-1, but her opponent tied the score at 3-3. From that point, both players broke each other's serve in five consecutive games. Bencic always had a one-break advantage, but she always lost it.
That was until 6-5. When serving for the set for the second time, the former WTA World No. 4 player finally held her serve to win the opening set of the match 7-5.
Bencic started with a break of serve also in the second set. She led 2-0 before losing the one-break advantage again. Vondrousova leveled the score at 2-2, but that was the last time she was dangerous in this match.
Bencic was the better player in the remainder of the second set, and after an hour and 46 minutes, she won the match 7-5, 6-3 to secure her semi-final spot at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open.
Her semi-final opponent will be the winner of a quarter-final blockbuster between the top-seeded Elena Rybakina and a three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur.
Bencic is now one win away from returning to the Top 100 of the WTA Rankings. On top of that, she's doing so well in 2025 that she's the eighth player in the 2025 WTA Race, which is a ranking reflecting points earned this year.
