A decade after falling just short, Belinda Bencic has won her first title at the Toray Pan Pacific in Tokyo on Sunday by ending her five-match losing streak against top 20 players.
The Swiss fifth seed dropped just five games during her 6-2, 6-3 win over Linda Nosková, who was seeking her first trophy of any sort this season. Bencic, who saved seven out of eight break points faced, hit 23 winners and capitalized heavily on her rivals’ unforced error tally of 37. It is the first time she has beaten a top 20 player on the Tour since reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Tokyo is the 10th WTA title Bencic has won in her career and the second of the year. In February, she won her first WTA event as a mother at the Abu Dhabi Open.
“I’m really enjoying my time back on tour and I think it’s showing in the results,” she said.
“I couldn’t be more happy and I’m definitely surprised. This was definitely not planned.”
Bencic began the year ranked outside the top 400 after missing most of 2024 due to the birth of her first child. Following her latest win in Tokyo, she will move up the PIF WTA rankings to 11th spot. Bencic has been ranked as high as fourth in the world, but the last time she was in the top 10 was in March 2023.
“It was wonderful playing in front of you guys,” Bencic said to the crowd after the match. “The last time I won here was the Tokyo Olympics when it was an empty stadium, so it was a completely different atmosphere, but it was great to play in front of you guys. I love to play in Japan, so I’m super happy to finally win this tournament.”
The 28-year-old had previously contested a final at the tournament. In 2015, she reached the title match before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska.
Bencic has won 35 out of 52 matches played since the start of January, reaching the quarter-finals or better at four tournaments. She is scheduled to next play at the Hong Kong Open, where she will be the top seed. This will also be her last WTA event of the season.
