Belinda Bencic returned to the tennis courts at the W75 tournament in Hamburg, and she could certainly consider it to be a successful comeback.
The Swiss player last competed in September 2023 at the San Diego Open, where she lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round of the tournament.
Shortly after that, Bencic announced her pregnancy, and it was clear that she wouldn't return to the tennis courts for a few months. In April 2024, she gave birth to her first child, and shortly after that, in June, she started her comeback journey.
After first being seen on the courts in June, already in September, Bencic shared her comeback plans. It was clear she still wanted to play this year, and she managed to make it happen.
Earlier this month, she received a wild card for a W75 tournament in Hamburg, and she made good use of it. Running from October 29th, the Hamburg Ladies Cup gave the Swiss player a great chance to return to action.
The tournament is played on the hard courts, and in her first match, Bencic took on World No. 238, Julia Avdeeva. The 22-year-old Russian player had a good season, but she was no match for the former World No. 4.
Bencic won the match relatively easily, 6-3, 6-1, marking her comeback with a very impressive win. After the win, she shared a message with her followers on social media.
She was happy about returning to the sport, and also welcomed a new member to her team, daughter Bella. Funnily, she also said she was making 'baby steps' on her comeback journey.
"And we are back! With one more member to our team. Thank you to Hamburger Tennis Verband for the WC. 'Baby' steps forward."
In the second round, Bencic took on World No. 298, Anastasia Kulikova, who is a Russian-born player representing Finland on the WTA Tour.
Again, the Swiss player started well, as she had two break points already in the third game of the opening set. However, she couldn't use these two chances to go ahead in the match.
A few games later, it was Bencic who was under pressure, facing a break point in the sixth game. She couldn't save it, and as a result, she lost the first set of the match 3-6.
The second set proved to be a real battle. Already in the first game, the unranked player had to save two break points, but this time, she was successful in holding her serve.
Only a couple of games later, though, Bencic couldn't save her opponent's chances to break and fell behind 1-3. She was able to recover from that deficit, breaking back to make it 3-3, but immediately, she was broken again.
After that, Bencic couldn't find another gear to beat her opponent, losing the match 3-6, 4-6 to exit the W75 tournament in Hamburg already in the second round.
Still, it was certainly a great comeback for her, and she will want to follow up on it with some more lower-tier events before hopefully making a proper comeback at the 2025 Australian Open.