Over 3 Hours of Battle and a Saved Match Point: Bencic Overcomes Muchova in Tokyo

The last quarterfinal of the WTA 500 Tokyo tournament pitted Belinda Bencic against Karolina Muchova.

Following the qualifications of Elena Rybakina, Linda Noskova, and Sofia Kenin for the semifinals, it was time for the final duel of the day in the Japanese capital between Bencic and Muchova. The two women faced each other for the fifth time on the main tour and were tied so far (2 wins each).

The Czech had won their last encounter, during the third round of the WTA 1000 in Montreal earlier in the season. This match between the two players lived up to its promises. Muchova, world number 21, started the match better and quickly pulled away to lead 5-1 with a double break.

Despite a surge of pride from Bencic, it was indeed the Czech who won the first set. Leading on the scoreboard for most of the match, Muchova, however, couldn't maintain the pace. She led 6-3, 5-3 in the second set before experiencing a dip in form that allowed her opponent to win the last four games of the set.

The 2023 Roland-Garros finalist, however, did not give up. In a completely wild third set that saw Bencic lead 3-0 before her opponent caught up, Muchova even went ahead and served for the match at 5-4.

After missing a match point, the Czech saw, in the same way as in the second set, Bencic come back in the score. In the end, it was the latter, who had eliminated Varvara Gracheva in the previous round, who prevailed (3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in 3h08).

Bencic, who beat Muchova for the first time in three years, completes the semifinal lineup and will face Sofia Kenin (who defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova) this Saturday for a spot in the final.

The other matchup, also enticing, will pit Elena Rybakina, who qualified a few hours earlier for the WTA Finals in Riyadh, against Linda Noskova, who benefited from Anna Kalinskaya's retirement very early in the day (6-0, 1-0 ret.).