Belinda Bencic (27 years old, WTA 294) will play in the round of 16 of the Australian Open in Melbourne. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Saint-Galloise in fact overcame the pitfall of the second round of the first tournament labeled “Grand Slam” of the year 2025. On court No. 6 at Melbourne Park, she beat in two sets the Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens (25 years old, WTA 77). The Swiss settled the debate in 100 minutes, the time to complete two sets with a score of 6-1 7-6 (7/3).
The 2021 Olympic champion in Tokyo concluded the game on her third match point after letting two opportunities to do so slip away in the 12th game of the second set. An outcome which turned out to be logical in that she put on the boss’s outfit on the playing area covered with a hard surface. She only committed 16 unforced errors while her opponent was forced to make a 39. Even though she was broken three times (she stole Lamens’ serve six times), she was credited with the point at the outcome of 65% of the exchanges following his first faceoffs.
Thanks to this success – her first against Lamens on the WTA circuit – Belinda Bencic reached the third round of the Australian Open for the sixth time in her career. Twice, in 2016 and 2023, she obtained her best results by taking part in the round of 16.
To reproduce this scenario in 2025, she will have to beat Naomi Osaka (27 years old, WTA 51) in her next appearance on the court. The Japanese, No. 1 in the world rankings in 2019, defeated the Czech Karolina Muchova (28 years old, WTA 20) in three sets (1-6 6-1 6-3) in the second round.
The two players have already challenged each other five times (three successes for Bencic). The last time, it was in the semi-finals of the Miami tournament in 2022, a match which smiled on Osaka (4-6 6-3 6-4).
