Belinda Bencic reaches the quarter-finals at the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo in eastern China. The player from eastern Switzerland beat the Ukrainian qualifier Julia Starodubtseva after a tough struggle 5:7, 6:4, 7:5.
15.10.2025, 10:51
15.10.2025, 11:01
SDA
Bencic's victory in the first duel with the world number 131 was only decided after more than three and a half hours. In the opening set, the Tokyo 2021 Olympic champion missed a set point at 5:4 and ultimately had to surrender it. Bencic got back into the match in the second round with an early break. In the deciding set, she was 5:2 ahead with two breaks, but then faltered again. She recovered in time at 5:5 and made the winning break in the decisive game with the 16th point.
This is the first time on the Asian Tour this year that Bencic has overcome the round of 16 hurdle. In Beijing she had failed against Coco Gauff, in Wuhan against Iga Swiatek - both Grand Slam winners this year. Since her semi-final appearance at Wimbledon in July, Bencic had not reached the last eight at any tournament.
Bencic will meet the winner of the match between Russian Veronika Kudermetova (WTA 31) and French Open winner Jasmine Paolini (WTA 8) from Italy in the quarter-finals on Friday.
