Super mom Belinda Bencic beats Mirra Andreeva for first Wimbledon semifinal

Belinda Bencic completed the 2025 Wimbledon Championships’ women’s semifinal line-up on Wednesday, edging past Mirra Andreeva, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), her best Grand Slam result since becoming a mother.

A former world No. 4, Bencic gave birth to daughter Bella last spring and returned to action at the end of 2024. Playing at SW19 for the first time in two years, she reached her first semifinal after two hours and eight minutes on Centre Court against the No. 7-seeded teenager.

Bencic became one of the biggest stories of the 2025 season when she swept to her first title as a mother in February, winning the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open with wins over former Grand Slam champion Marketa Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina. Forced to miss Roland Garros due to an arm injury sustained at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Bencic arrived to the All England Club unseeded and under the radar.

She survived a third-set tiebreaker in the third round against Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who shocked No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula on Day 2 of the Championships, and avenged a Bad Homburg Open defeat to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Round of 16 to reach her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

Standing between her and the semis was an in-form Andreeva, who was also playing her first Wimbledon quarterfinal after breezing through her first four matches. The former Roland Garros semifinalist made quick work of No. 10 seed Emma Navarro to book a first meeting with Bencic.

Kicking off Centre Court action on Wednesday, Bencic and Andreeva battled through a pair of close tiebreakers. In the second set, Andreeva sliced and diced her way to a Sudden Death after Bencic surved for the match, but the 28-year-old Swiss was undeterred and eased through a second tiebreaker to clinch victory in just over two hours.

Awaiting Bencic in the final four is former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who is also into her first Wimbledon semifinal after a 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova. Down to No. 8 after losing in the semifinals of Roland Garros, Swiatek has played solid tennis on what had hitherto been her least successful surface, winning five matches without dropping a set at SW19.

Ironically, Bencic and Swiatek last met at this very tournament in 2023, where Swiatek rallied from a set down to win in three sets.