Belinda Bencic has reached the round of 16 at the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid. She beat the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (WTA 19) 6:3, 4:6, 7:6 (7:2) thanks to a magnificent comeback.
26.04.2025, 17:45
26.04.2025, 18:14
SDA
Two days after her narrow two-set victory against Denmark's Clara Tauson after trailing by a break in both sets, Bencic also showed nerves of steel and a fighter's heart against the 16th seed Haddad Maia. The player from eastern Switzerland, who has been playing on the WTA Tour since her comeback last November as the mother of daughter Bella, was trailing 0:3 and 1:4 in the third set with a double break, before she turned the tight match around once again and after almost exactly three hours, gained the upper hand in the decisive tie-break.
After Bencic was tied back once again in the deciding set after losing a service game at 6:6, she converted her first match point in the tiebreak to win. Her next opponent in the round of 16 will be the American Coco Gauff (WTA 4), against whom she has won two of the four duels so far and took revenge for her defeat in the round of 16 at the Australian Open in Indian Wells in March.
Bencic held her own against Haddad Maia for the third time in their fourth meeting, although after a strong start with 18 of 20 first serves in the court and 16 points won, things did not look good for a while. In the second and third sets, she fell behind with two breaks right at the start.
