Belinda Bencic

Career

Bencic was born to Swiss parents of Slovak descent. Her father Ivan Benčič is originally from Bratislava, and her mother Daniela ("Dana") is from Močenok. She has one brother, Brian.

Early career

Bencic began playing tennis at the age of 4, learning at Melanie Molitor's tennis school. She began training every day with Molitor, the mother of Martina Hingis, at age 7. She also spent six months training at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida.

2012: WTA tour debut

Bencic kicked off her 2012 season by winning the G18 ITF tournaments in the Czech Republic, dropping no sets in the former and only one in the latter. She then qualified for and reached the quarterfinals of a professional $10,000 ITF event in Leimen, Germany, losing to eventual finalist Tereza Smitková. Two months later, in April, she headed to the United States for a G18 ITF in California, where she lost in the third round to Allie Kiick. The following week, Bencic played a $25,000 ITF tournament in Pelham, Alabama, losing to the former Wimbledon semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson during qualifying. Then, she returned to the junior tour playing a G18 G1 tournament in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France. Seeded seventh, she breezed through all her matches, losing only one set in the second round. The following week, Bencic won her fourth title of the year at a G18 G2 in Italy, once again dropping one set. Her run, however, ended the following week in the semifinals of another G2 in Italy.

Later in May, Bencic received a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the WTA Brussels Open. In the first round of qualifying, she defeated former top-20 player Elena Bovina in three sets. She was eliminated in the second round of qualifying by Lesia Tsurenko, but her win over Bovina improved her ranking 189 places to a career high of World No. 951.

Bencic's next tournament was the junior French Open in Paris. As the fifteenth seed, she was upset in the first round by unseeded Françoise Abanda in two tie breaks. Less than a month after this loss, she headed to 's-Hertogenbosch to attempt to qualify for the main draw of another WTA tournament, the UNICEF Open. She was defeated there by the top seed in qualifying, Urszula Radwańska.

The following week, Bencic played her Wimbledon warm-up tournament, the G18 G1 Aegon International in Roehampton. She reached the semifinals, defeating the top junior players Indy de Vroome and Sachia Vickery before being defeated by future Wimbledon girl's champion Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. At Wimbledon, she again suffered a disappointing early stage singles loss to Indy de Vroome in round two, but reached the final in doubles.

A few weeks later, Bencic headed home to Switzerland to play the prestigious G18 G1 European Junior Championships. Seeded second and the home favourite, she made it to the semifinals, losing to Başak Eraydın. A month later, she travelled to Canada for another G1 tournament, the Canadian Open Junior Championships, a warm-up for the US Open. She reached the third round, losing to Jeļena Ostapenko, despite taking the first set to love. At the US Open, Bencic once again failed to impress at a Grand Slam juniors tournament, losing in the second round to wildcard and eventual champion Samantha Crawford in three tough sets. She had better results in doubles, however, reaching the final alongside Petra Uberalová before losing to home favourites Gabrielle Andrews and Taylor Townsend.

After the US Open, Bencic took a two-week break before returning to the pro circuit at a $10,000 ITF event in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In the first round, she crushed the top seed of China, Lu Jiajing. In the next two rounds, she breezed past two qualifiers to advance to her first professional semifinal, where she defeated fourth seeded Barbara Haas of Austria. She claimed her first professional title by defeating second seeded Fatma Al-Nabhani. She also won the doubles tournament in Egypt with partner Lou Brouleau. The following week, Bencic continued her successful run on the pro circuit by winning another $10,000 ITF tournament in Sharm el-Sheikh, defeating Haas again, this time in the final. She lost only one set in the whole tournament, with her performance boosting her ranking 170 places to a career high of World No. 722.

Bencic was then granted a wildcard into the main draw of the Luxembourg Open, where she lost in the first round in straight sets to former World No. 1 Venus Williams in the first round, losing in straight sets. Williams went on to win the tournament. This WTA main draw debut once again raised her ranking significantly, by 108 places to World No. 614.

Bencic then progressed through qualifying to reach the main draw of the $25,000 ITF tournament in Benicarló, Spain, where she lost in the first round to Dinah Pfizenmaier. After this, she completed her 2012 season with a successful display of junior tennis in North America, reaching the semifinals of Eddie Herr, a Grade 1 event in Florida, and the quarterfinals of the Dunlop Orange Bowl. She also won the Grade A Abierto Juvenil in Mexico, where she won six sets at love and two of her matches 6-0, 6-0 (a "double bagel").

2013: Junior number 1

Bencic played the first ten tournaments of her 2013 campaign in the United States. All but one were ITF $25,000 or $50,000 events, with the exception of the Sony Open, where she lost in qualifying as a wildcard entry. Her best result was a quarterfinal appearance in Rancho Mirage.

Her big break, however, came at the Audi Melbourne Pro Tennis Classic during the final week of April. She qualified for the tournament with the loss of just one set, before upsetting top seeded Tatjana Maria in a one-sided first-round match. She proceeded to the semifinals with three-set wins over Americans Shelby Rogers and Jan Abaza, but was then defeated by eventual champion Petra Rampre. This performance boosted her ranking 81 places to World No. 351.

Next, Bencic flew to Europe for her junior French Open and Wimbledon campaigns. Her first tournament was a Grade 1 tournament in Italy, a warm-up for the French Open. Playing her first junior tournament of the year, she breezed to the singles title as the top seed with the loss of only one set and reached the semifinals in doubles alongside Viktoriya Lushkova. The following week, she played a Grade A tournament, also in Italy, and showed no signs of deteriorating form while winning the title with the loss of just one set. This boosted her junior ranking to a career high of World No. 2.

Bencic was seeded second in girls singles at the French Open. In the first two rounds, she defeated Alice Matteucci and Fiona Ferro without losing a set, but was pushed to three-set matches by Beatriz Haddad Maia, Taylor Townsend, and Louisa Chirico en route to her first junior singles final at a Grand Slam tournament. The final was one-sided, as she defeated Antonia Lottner from Germany in straight sets in a little over an hour to win her first junior singles title at a Grand Slam tournament. She was the first Swiss girl to win this tournament since Martina Hingis in 1994.

Before Wimbledon, Bencic played a senior ITF $25,000 event in Lenzerheide, Switzerland (where she was a singles semifinalist and doubles champion, alongside Kateřina Siniaková) and a junior Grade 1 at Roehampton (winning the singles title). She then went on to capture the Wimbledon junior singles title, defeating Townsend in the final.

Bencic next appeared in competition at the Swedish Open on the WTA Tour, where she was awarded a main draw wildcard entry before losing to Anna Tatishvili in the first round.

At the US Open, Bencic reached the quarterfinals in girls singles, where she lost to Antonia Lottner in straight sets. In girls doubles, she teamed with Sara Sorribes Tormo. For the second consecutive year, she lost in the final, this time in straight sets to the Czech pairing of Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková.

Bencic received a wildcard into the main draw of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, a Premier 5 tournament in Tokyo. She won her first match on the WTA tour, defeating Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova in three first-round sets before losing to eventual champion Petra Kvitová in the second round. At the HP Open in Osaka, Bencic won three rounds of qualifying, defeating Chang Kai-chen, Mandy Minella, and Anastasia Rodionova, to reach the main draw. There, she beat Lauren Davis in straight sets before bowing out to former US Open champion Samantha Stosur.

Bencic then remained in Japan for two $25,000 ITF tournaments. At the first one, held in Makinohara, she was the sixth seed and beat four Japanese players to advance to her first $25,000 ITF singles final, losing to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. In doubles, she and partner Sofia Shapatava lost in the quarterfinals. The following week in Hamamatsu, Bencic was seeded fourth. She advanced to the semifinals without the loss of a set, where she was defeated by Eri Hozumi. In doubles, she and Shapatava advanced to the final, where the unseeded duo lost to the second seeds Shuko Aoyama and Junri Namigata in straight sets.

In November, Bencic played at the Dunlop World Challenge, a $75,000 ITF event. She reached the semifinals in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles. Her performance improved her singles ranking to a new high of World No. 184.

In December, Bencic was pronounced ITF Junior World Champion.

2014: Breakthrough, top 50, and first Grand Slam quarterfinal

Bencic started her season in Hobart, Australia with a three-set loss during an exhibition match against fellow Swiss and former World No. 1 Martina Hingis. She next headed to Melbourne for the Australian Open, making it through three rounds of qualifying to earn her first main draw appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, defeating top seed in qualifying and World No. 106 Sharon Fichman in the process. Her opponent in the first round was veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, making this a meeting between the oldest and second-youngest players in the main draw. Bencic upset the former world No. 4 and former Australian Open semifinalist in three sets to seal victory on her Grand Slam debut. Her opponent in round two was the fourth seed and eventual tournament champion Li Na, to whom she lost in straight sets. In spite of the outcome, reaching the second round at her first Grand Slam tournament caused her ranking on 27 January 2014 to crack the top 150 for the first time, at World No. 146.

Following Australia, Bencic played in the qualifying for the Pattaya Open, defeating third seed Zarina Diyas in the first round but losing to fifth seed Alla Kudryavtseva in the final qualifying round. Despite not having made the main draw, she rose to World No. 139 the following week.

In February, Bencic was nominated for the Swiss Fed Cup team for their World Group II tie against France. She won both her singles matches in straight sets, defeating Alizé Cornet and Virginie Razzano, but lost the decisive fifth rubber in doubles, partnering Timea Bacsinszky, to Cornet and Kristina Mladenovic. At the end of the month, Bencic failed to qualify for the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

Bencic was granted a wildcard for the BNP Parabis Open in Indian Wells, but lost in the first round to British qualifier Heather Watson in straight sets. The appearance at Indian Wells, however, helped Bencic continue her rise up the rankings, as she reached a career high World No. 137.

At the Family Circle Cup, Bencic made it through the two qualifying rounds to earn a place in the main draw. In the first round, she upset tenth-seeded Maria Kirilenko, who she said she admired, "when I was younger, I had a poster on my wall of her, so it is very nice to win against her". She then defeated Marina Erakovic in the second round, and in the third round, pset the highest-ranked teenager in the world, Elina Svitolina, in three sets, to reach her first WTA Tour quarterfinal. Bencic then achieved the biggest win of her career by defeating Sara Errani, the third seed and 2012 French Open finalist, on the green clay of Charleston. In the semifinals, Bencic lost to Jana Čepelová, who had beaten Serena Williams in the second round, in a third-set tiebreaker. Her long run in the tournament causes her ranking to crack the top 100 for the first time, at World No. 91, a position that almost guaranteed her a place in the main draw of the French Open.

Later in April, Bencic played for Switzerland in their Fed Cup World Group II play-off, helping them to a 4–1 win over Brazil by winning one of her two singles rubbers and the dead doubles rubber with Viktorija Golubic.

In May, Bencic qualified for the main the draw at the Mutua Madrid Open, where she lost to World No. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets. The next week, she once again qualified for the main draw at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. In the opening round, she racked up another win over a top-25 player, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In the second round, she lost to 12th seed Flavia Pennetta in three sets. At the Nürnberger Versicherungscup, Bencic lost in the first round in straight sets to Mona Barthel.

Ranked World No. 80, Bencic was granted a direct acceptance into the main draw of the French Open, losing to Venus Williams in the first round in straight sets.

Bencic began her grass-court season at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, winning her first-round match in straight sets over Donna Vekić, but losing to defending champion Daniela Hantuchová in the second round. She won three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw of the Aegon International in Eastbourne, but lost to British wildcard Johanna Konta in the first round. At Wimbledon, she reached the third round of singles with wins over Magdaléna Rybáriková and Victoria Duval, before losing to Simona Halep in straight sets. Partnering Martin Kližan, she also reached the third round of the mixed doubles, but was less successful in women's doubles with Bulgarian partner Tsvetana Pironkova, losing to eventual runners-up Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the second round.

Bencic's summer hardcourt season got off to a slow start, losing in the first round of the İstanbul Cup to eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki without winning a single game. She then received a wildcard for the Premier 5 tournament in Cincinnati, but once again lost her opening match, this time to Karin Knapp, also in straight sets. In New Haven, she won three back-to-back matches to qualify for the main draw, but lost to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the first round in three sets having faced 39 break points in the match.

At the US Open, Bencic defeated Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets on her US Open debut, followed by a win over 31st seeded Kurumi Nara in three sets. In the third and fourth rounds, respectively, Bencic recorded the first top-10 wins of her career, defeating World No. 7 Angelique Kerber of Germany, followed by a win over former World No. 1 and ninth seed Jelena Janković in straight sets to become the youngest US Open quarterfinalist since her compatriot Martina Hingis in 1997. Her run was ended by unseeded Peng Shuai of China, but because she reached the quarterfinals, Bencic entered the world's top 40 for the first time.

Bencic's first tournament after the US Open was the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo where she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round before losing in three sets to Lucie Šafářová. She also played doubles with Martina Hingis at the event, but the pair lost in the quarterfinals to Cara Black and Sania Mirza. Bencic then qualified for the China Open in Beijing, losing to Ana Ivanovic in the first round. In her last tournament of 2014, Bencic reached her first WTA tour final in Tianjin, where she lost in straight sets to fellow first-time finalist Alison Riske.

On 17 November 2014, Bencic was named the WTA's Newcomer of the Year, receiving 56 out of a possible 58 media votes as well as 46 percent of the public fan vote. She ended the year ranked World No. 33.

2015: First WTA title and first Premier 5 title

Bencic started her 2015 campaign in poor form, winning only three games each in first-round losses to Daria Gavrilova in Sydney and Julia Görges at the Australian Open. After Switzerland's Fed Cup tie in Sweden, Bencic played at the Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she lost a three-set match to Alizé Cornet despite winning the first set comfortably.

Bencic earned her first WTA tour win of the year in Dubai over Karin Knapp, but lost easily to Venus Williams, and in Doha she failed to qualify. She turned her form around in both Indian Wells and Miami, where she reached fourth round at both events. At Indian Wells, she beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets for her first win over a top-5 player, but lost to Jelena Janković, despite leading by a break in the third set. In Miami, she lost to Sloane Stephens in straight sets.

In the clay court season, Bencic played six tournaments, but won just three matches. Three of her losses came against qualifiers. In Prague, Bencic won her first doubles title alongside Kateřina Siniaková.

One of these three wins on clay came at the French Open, where she beat Daniela Hantuchová, but she lost in the next round to Madison Keys in straight sets.

Bencic's grass-court season began at the Topshelf Open in the Netherlands, where she reached her second final. After saving three match points against Kristina Mladenovic. she defeated second seed Jelena Janković in straights in the semifinal. In the final, Bencic lost in straight sets to Camila Giorgi. After a second-round loss in Birmingham, Bencic won her first WTA title in Eastbourne, after wins over Madison Keys, Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwańska in a three-set final.

Bencic was seeded 30th at Wimbledon. She reached the fourth round for the first time, before losing to former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.

At the Citi Open, Bencic lost a second-round match to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova but recovered to win the doubles crown with Kristina Mladenovic without dropping a set the whole tournament. At the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Bencic defeated Eugenie Bouchard in the first round. She then upset World No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki i straight sets, followed by former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki and former Roland Garros champion Ana Ivanovic, to advance to the semifinals where she faced World No. 1 Serena Williams. Bencic came from 5–5 and 0–40 down in the second set and failed to serve out the match twice in the third set, despite being two points away from the win multiple times. She eventually beat Williams to advance to her first Premier 5 final. The win made Bencic the first teenager since Sloane Stephens to beat Williams (2013 Australian Open), and it also made her the youngest player to beat Williams since Maria Sharapova (2004 WTA Tour Championships). She then beat Simona Halep in three sets after Halep retired down 0–3 in the third set to win the biggest title of her career. All six players she had beaten were either Grand Slam finalists (Wozniacki, Lisicki, Halep and Bouchard) or champions (Williams and Ivanovic).

At the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Bencic started out strong with wins over 11th seed Angelique Kerber and former top-10 player Flavia Pennetta to reach the third round, but was forced to retire after dropping the first set against seventh seed Lucie Šafářová.

Bencic competed at the US Open as the 12th seed. She easily beat Sesil Karatancheva in the first round, but survived a tough three setter against Misaki Doi in the second round, coming from a set and three match points down at 5–6 in the second set to advance to the third round where she lost to Venus Williams in straight sets, despite being up a break in the second set.

Bencic began her Asian hard court swing at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She began her run with a double bagel win over Xu Yifan. She then beat Samantha Stosur in three sets and Garbiñe Muguruza in straight sets to advance to the semifinals. She beat the top seed, Caroline Wozniacki, for the fourth straight time in straight sets to advance to her fourth final of the year. There, she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. Bencic next played at the Wuhan Open. She beat lucky loser Ajla Tomljanović in straight sets before retiring in the second round against Camila Giorgi. She then played at the China Open in Beijing. She beat Madison Brengle in three sets before withdrawing from her next match against Mirjana Lučić-Baroni. Bencic ended the year ranked World No. 14.

2016: Top-10 debut, injuries, and mixed results

Bencic began her season at the Brisbane International. She easily beat Sara Errani before being upset in the second round by American qualifier Samantha Crawford in straight sets. Bencic next played at the Apia International Sydney. She beat Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, Tsvetana Pironkova, and Ekaterina Makarova to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, she retired with an illness against Monica Puig after failing to win a single game in the first set. Bencic was seeded twelfth at the Australian Open. She made it to the fourth round with wins over Alison Riske, Tímea Babos, and Kateryna Bondarenko. In the fourth round, she lost to Maria Sharapova in straight sets.

Bencic was the top seed at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy. She made it to the final with wins over Annika Beck, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Daria Kasatkina. Because of her performance in St. Petersburg, Bencic ensured a place in the top 10 of the WTA rankings for the first time. She was beaten, however, in straight sets by Roberta Vinci in the final.

Bencic suffered back-to-back losses against lower-ranked players, Jelena Janković and Coco Vandeweghe, in Dubai and Doha, respectively.

After receiving a bye into the second round at the BNP Paribas Open, Bencic suffered a scare as she needed three sets to defeat Lauren Davis. She then fell to Magdaléna Rybáriková in three sets in the third round. She was forced to retire from her second round match with Kristýna Plíšková at the Miami Open because of a lower back injury.

Bencic played her only clay court tournament at the Charleston Open. She was seeded second, but lost in the second round to qualifier Elena Vesnina in straight sets. Injuries kept her from playing the French Open and other clay tournaments.

She returned for the grass court season at the Ricoh Open. Bencic entered the tournament as the number one seed. She overcame two three set matches in the first and second rounds. She followed this with a straight sets win over fellow Swiss player Viktorija Golubic in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she lost to her good friend Kristina Mladenovic in three sets. Injury plagued her once again during the Aegon Classic when she was forced to retire in the first round because of a thigh strain. Bencic lost to Elena Vesnina for the second time this year in the second round of the Aegon International. At Wimbledon, Bencic beat grass specialist Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round. Injuries, however, forced her to retire during her second round match with qualifier Julia Boserup.

Apart from making the third round of the US Open, where she was beaten by Johanna Konta, Belinda struggled for the rest of the season, winning just one match - in Beijing against Annika Beck.

2017: Out of form and dropped out of top 100

After an injury-plagued year in 2016, Bencic has failed to produce good results again in 2017. At the Australian Open, Bencic drew second seed Serena Williams in the opening round and lost in straight sets to the eventual champion. Shortly after, Bencic returned to St. Petersburg, where she had reached the final in 2016, but lost her opening match to Daria Kasatkina in straight sets. The defeat meant she dropped out of the top 100 for the first time since April 2014. She then went on to lose in Mexico to AO 2017's semifinalist, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in straight sets.

Bencic was signed on as a drawcard at the inaugural WTA tournament in Biel, but failed to get past the first round. Her ranking has dropped to no. 199. Thereafter, Bencic did not play any tournaments for five months. She gave her comeback at the Neva Cup in Saint Petersburg, defeating Vitalia Diatchenko without dropping a game.

Playing style

Bencic is a "clean ball striker." Her style of play is noticeably "Swiss" and similar to that of Martina Hingis. Bencic plays with a flatter forehand and a clean two-handed backhand. Her noticeable skill is in her ability to take the ball "on the rise" and redirect hard cross court balls into fast down-the-line shots.

Singles

Updated through 2017 Indian Wells Masters

Notes

Record against top-10 players

Bencic's match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10 of the WTA Singles Rankings.