Bencic upends Vondrousova in Abu Dhabi, makes her first WTA Tour semi-final as mother

Swiss wildcard Belinda Bencic reached the last four of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open by beating wildcard Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-3 at the International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City on Thursday.

Bencic needed an hour, 46 minutes to cross the finish line before former Wimbledon champion Vondrousova.

It wasn’t an easy affair for Bencic as she and the Czech broke each other back and forth, exchanging a total 11 serve breaks, out of which the Swiss claimed seven. She averaged an impressive 67 percent on the second-serve returns, winning the match on a break point.

This is the former world No 4’s first semi-final qualification on the WTA Tour after giving birth to daughter Bella and also a first since Charleston Open in April 2023.

Bencic, ranked No 157, will play the winner of the match between Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the top seed, and Tunisian Ons Jabeur next.

The Swiss won against Slovak Rebecca Sramkova (6-2, 3-6, 6-1) and Russian lucky loser Veronika Kudermetova (6-0, 6-0) in the previous rounds of the Abu Dhabi tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Vondrousova, ranked No 37, defeated wildcard Emma Raducanu (6-3, 6-4) and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, the No 4 seed (6-2, 6-3).

Abu Dhabi WTA 500, other quarter-finals results (International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City, hard, USD 1.064.510, most recent results first):

• Magda Linette vs. Linda Noskova
• Elena Rybakina vs. Ons Jabeur
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Ashlyn Krueger

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