Belinda Bencic completes astonishing title return at Abu Dhabi Open 10 months after becoming a mother

Saturday, 08 February 2025 at 16:33

Belinda Bencic perhaps is the story to watch this season on the WTA Tour as her astonishing comeback continues. She has won the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open defeating Ashlyn Krueger in the final on Saturday afternoon 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Bencic only gave birth to her daughter 10 months ago in April 2024 and ten months later, she wins her first title ironically since Abu Dhabi 2023 meaning the aside from Elena Rybakina last year, it is a tournament she has dominated.

It is a ninth career title for the Swiss ace and already only two months in to the year, her comeback has born fruit more than any returning mother since Elina Svitolina.

It is also a testament to the guile of Bencic who didn't give up in her pursuit of returning to the tour. She grinded in small WTA 125k tournaments to gain wins and went in to the Australian Open reaching the third round. She only lost to Coco Gauff who she took the first set off.

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Bencic has gone up 92 spots in the course of a week and is currently World No.65 after winning the WTA 500. After starting off having to use protected rankings, Bencic may not need them very soon to enter tournaments. Defending no points, her rise will likely be similar to Svitolina.

For reference, Svitolina when returning also played smaller tournaments with mixed success then won Strasbourg and the floodgates opened with Grand Slam success in 2023 in the form of multiple Quarter-Finals and semi-finals.

Ashlyn Krueger also continues to thrive despite suffering a heavy defeat after winning the first set. The 20-year-old has been superb all season and has reached the Quarter-Finals or better in every tournament aside from the Australian Open. It was a first WTA 500 final but given her rise, she will definitely be back as the next American off the list. She rises up to World No.40 after previously being World No.50 in the last week of January for the first time.

A week that certainly has born fruit but for now it is all about Bencic who returns in some style recovering from a first set loss to ease through losing two more games en route to the title. A heartwarming story and one to give hope to returning mothers that they can do it and Bencic will look ahead to Doha, Dubai and the Sunshine Double with a lot of confidence.

Belinda Bencic comes back to beat Ashlyn Krueger 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 and win the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 for the 2nd time in three years, having had a first child in the middle.

She gave birth less than a year ago and comeback 100 days ago.

Incredible story. Amazing player. pic.twitter.com/magA4A39Pd
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) February 8, 2025

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