Belinda Bencic
 Bencic at the 2013 US Open | |
| Full name | Belinda Bencic |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Switzerland |
| Born | 10 March 1997 Flawil, Switzerland |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Prize money | $42,378 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 57–28 |
| Career titles | 2 ITF |
| Highest ranking | 146 (27 January 2014) |
| Current ranking | 146 (27 January 2014) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 2R (2014) |
| Australian Open Junior | — |
| French Open Junior | W (2013) |
| Wimbledon Junior | W (2013) |
| US Open Junior | QF (2013) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 13–5 |
| Career titles | 2 ITF |
| Highest ranking | 401 (25 November 2013) |
| Current ranking | 406 (13 January 2014) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open Junior | — |
| French Open Junior | QF (2012, 2013) |
| Wimbledon Junior | F (2012) |
| US Open Junior | F (2012, 2013) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | 1–1 |
| Last updated on: 13 January 2014. | |
Belinda Bencic (Slovak: Belinda Benčičová; born 10 March 1997 in Flawil) is a Swiss tennis player.
Bencic has won two singles and two doubles titles on the ITF tour. On 9 December 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 183. On 25 November 2013, she peaked at world number 401 in the doubles rankings.
In 2012, Bencic made her debut for the Switzerland Fed Cup team,[1] and in 2013 won the French Open and Wimbledon girls' singles titles.[2] She has also been a finalist in three girls' doubles tournaments, at the US Open in 2012 and 2013, as well as at Wimbledon in 2012.
Bencic is coached by her father, who emigrated to Switzerland from Czechoslovakia in 1968,[1] as well as Melanie Molitor on occasion,[2] the mother of former fellow Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis.
Career
Early career
Bencic began playing at the age of 4, learning at Melanie Molitor's tennis school, and began training with Molitor on a daily basis from age 7.[3] She also spent six months training at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida.[4]
2012
Bencic kicked off her 2012 season by winning two back-to-back G18 ITF tournaments in the Czech Republic, dropping not a single set 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. However, her amazing run was 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 stunned the tennis world by knocking out 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 boosted her ranking up 189 places to a career high of world number 951.
Bencic's next tournament was the junior French Open in Paris. As the fifteenth seed, she was stunned in the first round by unseeded Françoise Abanda in two tie breaks. Less than a month after her disappointing loss at the French Open, she headed to 's-Hertogenbosch for another WTA tournament, the UNICEF Open. However, she was defeated by top qualifying seed Urszula Radwańska.
The following week, Bencic played her Wimbledon warm-up tournament, the G18 G1 Aegon International in Roehampton. She reached the semifinals, defeating top junior players such as 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 make an impression at a Grand Slam, losing in the second round to wildcard and eventual champion Samantha Crawford in three tough sets. However, she had better results in doubles, 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 seed Barbara Haas of Austria to advance to the final. She claimed her first professional title by defeating second seed Fatma Al Nabhani. She also won the doubles tournament in Egypt partnering Lou Brouleau. The following week, Bencic continued her amazing run on the pro circuit by winning another $10,000 ITF tournament in Sharm el-Sheikh, defeating Haas again, but this time in the final. She lost only one set in the whole tournament, and her ashtonishing performance in Egypt boosted her ranking 170 places to world number 722, a career high.
Bencic was then granted a wildcard into the main draw of the BGL Luxembourg Open, where she faced former world number one Venus Williams in the first round, losing in straight sets.[5] Williams went on to win the tournament. This WTA main draw debut once again raised her ranking significantly, 108 places to world number 614.
Bencic then progressed through qualifying to take a place in the main draw at 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 stellar display of junior tennis in North America, reaching the semifinals of Eddie Herr, a Grade 1 event in Florida, reaching the quarterfinals of the Dunlop Orange Bowl, and winning the Grade A Abierto Juvenil in Mexico, with a record six to-love sets throughout the tournament. These included two "double bagels".
2013
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, the exception being the 2013 Sony Open, where she lost in qualifying under a wildcard entry. Her best result was a quarterfinal appearance in Rancho Mirage, but her big break came at the 2013 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 seed Tatjana Maria with a surprisingly one-sided first-round win. 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 number 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 when she snatched the title with the loss of just one set, boosting her junior ranking to a career high of world number 2.
Bencic was seeded second 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 Grand Slam singles final.[6] The final was a one-sided affair, as she defeated Antonia Lottner from Germany in straight sets in a little over an hour to win her maiden Grand Slam and become the first Swiss girl since Martina Hingis in 1994 to be victorious at Roland Garros's junior tournament.[7]
Prior to Wimbledon, Bencic played a senior ITF $25,000 event in Lenzerheide, Switzerland (where she was singles semifinalist and doubles champion, alongside Kateřina Siniaková) and a junior Grade 1 at Roehampton (which she won in singles). She then went on to capture the Wimbledon title, defeating Townsend in the final, to crown a successful summer.[8]
Bencic next appeared in competition at the 2013 Swedish Open on the WTA Tour, where she was awarded with a main draw wildcard, but lost to Anna Tatishvili in the first round.[9]
At the US Open, Bencic reached the quarterfinals in singles, losing to Antonia Lottner in straight sets.[10] In doubles, partnering Sara Sorribes Tormo, she was more successful, but again, for the second year running, was defeated in the final, losing in straight sets to the Czech pairing of Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková.
Bencic received a wildcard into the 2013 Toray Pan Pacific Open,[11] a Premier 5 tournament. She won her first match on the WTA tour,[12] defeating the Russian qualifier, Daria Gavrilova, in three first-round sets, but lost to eventual champion Petra Kvitová in round two.[13] At the HP Open in Osaka, Bencic went through three rounds of qualifying, defeating Chang Kai-chen, Mandy Minella and Anastasia Rodionova to qualify for the main draw. Here, she beat Lauren Davis in straight sets[14][15] before bowing out to former US Open champion Samantha Stosur.[16]
Bencic then remained in Japan for two $25,000 ITF tournaments. At the first one, held in Makinohara on the week of 14 October, she was the sixth seed, beating 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, where she reached the semifinals in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles. Her strong performance improved her world ranking to a new high of 184.
In December, Bencic was pronounced ITF Junior World Champion.[17]
2014
Bencic started her season in Hobart with an exhibition match against fellow Swiss and former world number 1, Martina Hingis, but lost in three sets.[18] 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 number 106 Sharon Fichman in the process.[19] 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.[20] Bencic upset the odds to defeat the former world number 4 and former Australian Open semifinalist in three sets to seal victory on her Grand Slam debut.[21][22] Her opponent in round two was the fourth seed and eventual tournament champion Li Na, to whom she lost in straight sets;[23][24] but despite the outcome, as a result of her reaching the second round at her maiden Slam, Bencic is guaranteed to enter the world's top 150 for the first time when the rankings for 27 January 2014 are released.[25]
Junior Grand Slam finals (2–3)
Girls' Singles
| Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 2013 | French Open | Clay |  Antonia Lottner
|
6–1, 6–3 |
| Winner | 2013 | Wimbledon | Grass |  Taylor Townsend
|
4–6, 6–1, 6–4 |
Girls' Doubles
| Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 2012 | Wimbledon | Grass |  Ana Konjuh
|
 Eugenie Bouchard Taylor Townsend
|
4–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 2012 | US Open | Hard |  Petra Uberalová
|
Gabrielle Andrews Taylor Townsend
|
4–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 2013 | US Open | Hard |  Sara Sorribes Tormo
|
 Barbora Krejčíková Kateřina Siniaková
|
3–6, 4–6 |
ITF finals (4–2)
Singles (2–1)
|
|
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 17 September 2012 | Sharm el-Sheikh 7, Egypt | Hard |  Fatma Al-Nabhani
|
6–3, 7–6(7–4) |
| Winner | 2. | 24 September 2012 | Sharm el-Sheikh 8, Egypt | Hard |  Barbara Haas
|
6–4, 6–0 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 14 October 2013 | Makinohara, Japan | Grass |  Zarina Diyas
|
3–6, 4–6 |
Doubles (2–1)
|
|
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 17 September 2012 | Sharm el-Sheikh 7, Egypt | Hard |  Lou Brouleau
|
 Olga Brózda  Ganna Piven
|
7–6(7–3), 3–6, [10–6] |
| Winner | 2. | 17 June 2013 | Lenzerheide, Switzerland | Clay | Kateřina Siniaková
|
 Veronika Kudermetova  Diāna Marcinkēviča
|
6–0, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 21 October 2013 | Hamamatsu, Japan | Grass |  Sofia Shapatava
|
 Shuko Aoyama Junri Namigata
|
4–6, 3–6 |
Fed Cup participation
Doubles
| Edition | Stage | Date | Location | Against | Surface | Partner | Opponents | W/L | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 Fed Cup Fed Cup World Group II |
WG2 | 5 February 2012 | Granges-Paccot, Switzerland |  Australia
|
Clay (i) | Amra Sadiković
|
Casey Dellacqua Jelena Dokić
|
L | 5–7, 4–6 |
| WG2 P/O | 22 April 2012 | Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland |  Belarus
|
Hard (i) | Amra Sadiković
|
Darya Lebesheva Aliaksandra Sasnovich
|
W | 6–7(5–7), 7–6(9–7), 7–5 |
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
| Tournament | 2014 | W–L | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||
| Australian Open | 2R | 1–1 | ||
| French Open | — | 0–0 | ||
| Wimbledon | — | 0–0 | ||
| US Open | — | 0–0 | ||
| Win–Loss | 1–1 | 1–1 | ||
References
- ^ a b Bühler, Dennis (4 June 2012). "Das Risikokapital". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ^ a b "«Newcomerin des Jahres» - Belinda Bencic". SRF (in German). 15 December 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ Stauffer, René (4 May 2012). "Ein «Wunderkind» wird erwachsen". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ Germann, Daniel (3 July 2013). "Familienangelegenheit". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ "Bencic unterliegt der grossen Venus Williams". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). 16 October 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ^ "Juniorin Bencic im Final". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 7 June 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- ^ "Bencic gewinnt Juniorinnen-Turnier der French Open". SRF (in German). 8 June 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- ^ "Bencic wie einst Hingis". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 6 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ^ Häring, Simon (16 July 2013). "Belinda Bencic bezahlt Lehrgeld". Blick (in German). Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- ^ Bärtsch, Philipp (6 September 2013). "Bencic scheitert in den Viertelfinals". Blick (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ Bärtsch, Philipp (21 September 2013). "Bencic mit Losglück". Blick (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ "Belinda feiert ersten Tour-Sieg". Blick (in German). 22 September 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ "Knappe Niederlage für Belinda Bencic". Tagblatt (in German). 23 September 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ "Bencic zieht in 2. Runde ein". Neue Luzerner Zeitung (in German). 8 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
- ^ "Bencic (16) feiert wertvollsten Erfolg". Blick (in German). 8 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
- ^ "Stosur noch eine Nummer zu gross für Bencic". Berner Zeitung (in German). 9 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
- ^ "Bencic and Zverev crowned ITF Junior World Champions". International Tennis Federation. 17 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ Häring, Simon (5 January 2014). "Hingis gibt Belinda Saures". Blick (in German). Retrieved 12 January 2014.
- ^ "Bencic gewinnt erstes Qualifikationsspiel". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 9 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
- ^ "Youngster Bencic gegen Routinière Date-Krumm". SRF (in German). 12 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
- ^ "Bencic feiert erfolgreiche Premiere". SRF (in German). 13 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ Rothenberg, Ben (13 January 2014). "Swiss Teenager Beats Date-Krumm in a Battle of Generations". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ "Bencic wehrt sich gegen Li vergeblich". Blick (in German). 15 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ Germann, Daniel (15 January 2014). "Belinda Bencic auf dem richtigen Weg". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ Häring, Simon (13 January 2014). "Bencic (16) lässt die Muskeln spielen". Blick (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2014.
External links
- Official website
- Belinda Bencic at the Women's Tennis Association
- {{ITF profile}} template using deprecated numeric ID.
- Belinda Bencic at the Billie Jean King Cup
Women's Tennis Association: Top Swiss female singles tennis players | |
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as of 23 September 2024 | |
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