Belinda Bencic will not end the tennis year with another tournament victory. Five days after her triumph in Tokyo, the player from Eastern Switzerland has withdrawn from her quarter-final match in Hong Kong.
31.10.2025, 07:36
31.10.2025, 07:50
SDA
"I'm disappointed to have to withdraw due to a thigh injury," explained Belinda Bencic in a message posted on the social media of the WTA 250 tournament, where she was seeded No. 1. She was due to play Spain's Cristina Bucsa (WTA 68) on Friday.
"I've played a lot of matches over the past few weeks and done everything I could to stay healthy. But it wasn't enough," said the 2021 Olympic champion, who was playing her fifth tournament in five weeks in Hong Kong since the start of the Asian Tour.
Bencic, who received a wildcard for the tournament, has played 14 matches in the last five weeks, winning 11 of them and claiming one title. In Asia, she only suffered defeats against players who will be competing at the WTA Finals starting on Saturday (Coco Gauff in Wuhan, Iga Swiatek in Beijing and Jasmine Paolini in Ningbo).
From rank 489 to rank 11
The Wimbledon semi-finalist thus made a successful comeback after a difficult North American tour that ended with a defeat in the 2nd round of the US Open. Following her victory at the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo, Bencic climbed to 11th place in the world rankings. At the beginning of the year, she was still ranked 489th.
"To be honest, I didn't expect such a comeback," Bencic emphasized after her triumph in Tokyo, her second tournament win this year after Abu Dhabi in February. When she returned to tournament action on October 30, 2024 in Hamburg, six months after the birth of her daughter Bella, she did not yet have a ranking.
The 28-year-old from St. Gallen can now rest up before she starts preparing for the 2026 season. Although she has to defend numerous points at the start of the year - more than 900 in January and February - she can already start thinking about a return to the top ten players in the world.
