Fasten your seatbelts! We’re all set for a blockbuster clash in Abu Dhabi. The 2023 Wimbledon champion, Marketa Vondrousova (CZE), is going to take on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist, Belinda Bencic, in the QF of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open. Both these players have vast experience on the women’s tour, and, guess what? They’ve already clinched two victories in this tournament! Who will complete the hat trick of wins in this tournament and secure her place in the semis?

Marketa Vondrousova vs Belinda Bencic: Preview

Marketa Vondrousova played some really good tennis in some of the tournaments last year, but she failed to hold on to her consistency. Vondrousova reached the QF in Dubai and Strasbourg. Marketa Vondrousova even made it to the SF in Stuttgart. Not only that, the 25-year-old Czech tennis star also reached the QF at the 2024 French Open, but over there, she was defeated by the eventual champion Iga Swiatek by 0-6, 2-6. However, later on, she had to withdraw her name from the Paris Olympics due to a hand injury, which also led her to pull out of the US Open. Vondrousova returned to the tour at the 2025 Adelaide International.

Marketa Vondrousova failed to make her presence felt during the Australian swing, but in Abu Dhabi, she has already clinched two straight-set wins over Emma Raducanu and Yulia Putintseva in the previous two rounds. Next up for her is Belinda Bencic!

In October 2024, six months after giving birth to her daughter, Belinda Bencic made a comeback to competitive tennis. She took part in an ITF event in Hamburg, and then after that, she even reached the QF at the W75 Petange 003 and the final of the WTA 125 Angers, FR. However, in that final match, she was defeated by America’s Alycia Parks in a three-set thriller. In 2025, Bencic was seen in action at the Adelaide International and the AO, but she failed to make a longer run in those two tournaments. She was defeated by Coco Gauff in the R4 of the 2025 AO. However, Belinda Bencic is entering this match following her two impressive wins against Rebecca Sramkova and Veronika Kudermetova in the previous two rounds. She defeated Kudermetova by 6-0, 6-0!

Vondrousova vs Bencic: Head-to-Head

Marketa Vondrousova and Belinda Bencic have crossed paths against each other three times in their careers so far! Currently, Bencic leads the H2H scoreline by a 2-1 margin.

• 2021 Cincinnati R64: Bencic 6-3, 7-5.
• 2021 Olympics Final: Bencic 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
• 2021 Miami R32: Vondrousova 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Prediction: Vondrousova to win in three sets

Belinda Bencic’s incredible performance against Veronika Kudermetova managed to turn the heads of plenty in the tennis world, but is it enough to put her above Marketa Vondrousova for this epic battle? Probably not! A fully-fit Vondrousova has the potential to throw up more challenges against her opponents than someone like Belinda Bencic who has recently made a return to the Tour after a long gap. If we take a look at the numbers, Marketa Vondrousova (37) had a win-loss record of 16-12 in the last season. On the other hand, Belinda Bencic (157) had a win-loss record of 1-0 on the main tour, but it was 7-3 for Bencic on the ITF Level in 2024.

However, in 2025 she has already clinched seven wins so far! It’ll be interesting to see if Bencic can make it to eight with an impressive performance against the former world number 6.

If we take a look at their playing styles, Belinda Bencic has an all-court game and she loves playing an aggressive brand of tennis. She understands the game really well and knows exactly how to throw the other player off. Bencic also possesses a powerful first-serve, but her second-serve is comparatively on the weaker side. She often tends to commit a significant number of double faults during her matches and this can be a major worry for her, especially while playing against someone as lethal as Marketa Vondrousova. So, she needs to be a bit wary of these things before entering the battlefield against the Czech. 

Apart from that, Belinda Bencic also possesses the ability to hit powerful groundstroke winners, but she can also hit lob and drop-shot winners when presented with the opportunity. Bencic can swiftly turn defense into offense, so Vondrousova also needs to be on her toes in this epic encounter!

Talking about the left-hander, Marketa Vondrousova has a crafty style of play. She is often seen employing a wide variety of shots, and her signature shot is the drop shot. Her game often includes long, strategic rallies in which she makes use of her left-handed topspin forehand. She excels in her return game more than her service game. Both these players have enough weapons to overpower each other in this mega duel, but looking at Vondrousova’s records in some of the big tournaments that she participated in last year, we feel she could be in a better position to seal the deal in this match than someone who’s making a comeback after a long gap. However, keeping Bencic’s dominating performance in the previous match in mind, we feel this match will need three sets to decide the winner!