Belinda Bencic reaches the semi-finals of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo. The Swiss number 5 seed defeated the Czech Karolina Muchova (WTA 21) 3:6, 7:5, 7:5 after fending off match point.
24.10.2025, 13:32
24.10.2025, 13:57
SDA
At the venue where she celebrated her first victory on the WTA Tour in 2013 at the age of 16, reached the final two years later and won Olympic gold in 2021, Bencic showed fighting qualities in her fifth duel with Muchova, who is ranked eight places lower, and successfully took revenge for the three-set defeat in Montreal at the beginning of August.
Another marathon match
The Wimbledon semi-finalist had her back to the wall in the second set at 3:6, 3:5, but was able to free herself from the awkward situation by winning four games in a row. Bencic initially took a 3:0 lead in the deciding set, but Muchova, who had undergone treatment on her right ankle at the start of the second set, fought back and had a second chance to serve for the match at 5:4.
Bencic fended off a match point, managed to break back and converted her second match point to win after 3:08 hours. It was her third match in ten days to last longer than three hours, having been part of the longest WTA match of the year last week when she advanced to the quarter-finals in Ningbo in eastern China (3:33 hours).
Kenin next opponent
In the semi-finals on Saturday morning, Bencic will face the American Sofia Kenin (WTA 25), who beat the No. 3 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia in three sets. Bencic has lost both of her previous duels on the WTA Tour against the 2020 Australian Open winner, on grass in Mallorca in 2019 and on clay in Charleston in April this year.
Kazakhstan's Yelena Rybakina (WTA 7) and the Czech Linda Noskova (WTA 17) will meet in the second semi-final in Tokyo.
