The Swiss top player Belinda Bencic returned to the professional tour after her 13-month maternity break with a victory at the ITF W75 event in Hamburg-Horn.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edited: October 30, 2024, 8:13 p.m
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She’s back! The Swiss top player Belinda Bencic ended her baby break after the birth of her daughter Bella in April this year and is celebrating her long-awaited comeback this week at the ITF W75 tournament in Hamburg-Horn.
And the first step was a fantastic success, as the 27-year-old delivered a clean two-set victory in her first professional match in just over 13 months. The sufferer on the other side of the net was the Russian Julia Avdeeva, who at least won the hard court tournament in the Hanseatic city last year (in the final against the German Ella Seidel).
Bencic also starts in the BJK Cup
Bencic won clearly 6:3, 6:1 and will face the Finnish Anastasia Kulikova in round two. The Swiss will be able to fall back on her protected ranking of 15th place in the near future; in Hamburg she benefited from a wildcard from the organizers. Bencic can look forward to the same thing when she next competes in Petange, Luxembourg, where she will be competing next week.
The former world number four would also like to compete in the BJK Cup playoff duel at home against Serbia (November 15th/16th). Bencic spoke to Swiss Radio about a “solid first match” that she really enjoyed. “Logically, I’m not super fit yet. I’m just a little slower than usual. Let’s see how I feel and how my body recovers.”
From a German perspective, Nastasja Schunk (against Julia Stusek) and Mona Barthel (against Selina Dal) ensured first-round successes, Anna-Lena Friedsam is currently playing her duel against compatriot Tessa Johanna Brockmann (wildcard). And Austria’s number one, Sinja Kraus, is also in the round of 16 after a victory over Uzbek qualifier Vlada Ekshibarova.
Here is the individual tableau in Hamburg-Horn.
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