Belinda Bencic surprises herself as Tokyo win brings 10th title
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Belinda Bencic was ranked 421st in the world at the start of the season but has climbed to world No. 13 and is projected to rise even higher.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TOKYO – Belinda Bencic said she surprised even herself by winning a second title of the season in Tokyo on Oct 26, a year after returning to tennis from having a baby.
The Swiss beat the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-3 in the Pan Pacific Open final, following up her success at the Abu Dhabi Open in February.
Bencic gave birth to a daughter in April 2024 and returned to the WTA Tour six months later.
The 28-year-old said she did not expect her comeback to “go this fast and this well”.
“I’m really enjoying my time back on tour and I think it’s showing in the results,” she said.
“I couldn’t be more happy and I’m definitely surprised. This was definitely not planned.”
Bencic was ranked 421st in the world at the start of the season but has climbed to world No. 13 and is projected to rise even higher after her Tokyo win.
It gave her the 10th WTA title of her career and came 10 years after she last appeared in the Pan Pacific final, where she lost to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska.
“I feel like Tokyo and Japan is a happy place in my career, a place where I've had good success and I just love being here,” said Bencic, who won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal in 2021.
“I had a deja vu moment on court. I had match point on the same side of the court, went for the same serve and was telling myself the same things. I had goosebumps, it was really special. It’s great to win here again.”
“The last time I won here... it was an empty stadium – so it was a completely different atmosphere, but it was great,” she added, referring to the Olympics held during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I’m super happy to finally win this tournament.”
She said she was not sure when she launched her comeback if she would be able to return to the upper echelons of tennis.
Her performance at the Australian Open
“It’s hard work but it’s a lot of self-belief and a lot of mental belief as well,” said Bencic, who reached a career-high ranking of four in February 2020.
“I’m really happy to have this confirmation with myself that I’m able to try to even beat my best ranking from before.”
Bencic, the fifth seed, had to work hard for her victory in Tokyo, coming through three-set matches against Karolina Muchova and Sofia Kenin to reach the final.
She said she was “feeling exhausted” after the Oct 25 semi-final but recovered with some Japanese miso soup and sushi.
“Miso soup, I swear, it’s great for recovery,” she said. “It helped me a lot, I felt so much better after.”
Bencic was relentless against sixth seed Noskova, who was looking for her first title this season and had a much less demanding route to the final.
The 20-year-old won her quarter-final when Anna Kalinskaya retired injured early in the second set and was given a walkover in the semi-final when Elena Rybakina pulled out with a sore back.
Linda Noskova was looking for her first title this season and had a much less demanding route to the final.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Noskova, who squandered 10 break points in the final, said the lack of match practice cost her.
“I definitely didn’t have such control over all the points or all of my balls as I did a couple of matches ago,” she said.
“I’ve never gone through a situation where I didn’t really play for whole matches before reaching a final.”
The tournament was weakened by nine withdrawals before the first round began, including top-10 players Jasmine Paolini and Jessica Pegula. AFP, REUTERS
