Belinda Bencic began the Madrid Masters with a win while three-time tournament winner Petra Kvitova was knocked out as the latest crop of tennis mothers went into Wednesday action on the Spanish clay,

Swiss Bencic celebrated the first birthday of daughter Bella by crushing Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez with the loss of just two games in a one-hour rout.

Bencic, a former top 10 player and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist who has already won a title this season in Abu Dhabi, returned from her maternity pause last October and has risen to a 42nd ranking.

She won eight of the last 10 points to clinch her opening victory.

There was no luck for Kvitova, with the Czech going down to Katie Volynets 6-4, 6-0. 

Kvitova ran off with the early 4-1 lead but was reeled in as her US opponent swept the next 11 games.

The 35-year-old Kvitova has played only four comeback matches since returning in February and has yet to earn a match win.

Another WTA player now a parent, Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-5, requiring more than an hour per set and helped by 10 double-faults from her veteran opponent who had beaten her in all eight of their previous matches.

One-time No. 11 Sevastova gave birth in December, 2022, and took nearly two years away from the Tour for her pregnancy and infant care period.

But her return was derailed by a knee injury early last season, which forced to miss another year and a bit of competition. She began her latest comeback last week at a minor event in Slovenia.

Sevastova, a 2023 Madrid semi-finalist, reached the second round against Jelena Ostapenko, champion on Monday in Stuttgart.

Main photo:- Belinda Bencic with daughter Bella

Belinda Bencic held nine-month-old daughter Bella in one arm and the WTA Abu Dhabi trophy in the other after claiming the title on Saturday in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 fightback finals win over Ashlyn Krueger. 

The Swiss who won Olympic gold in Tokyo had only returned to the Tour last autumn; she backed up her trophy here from 2023, the year before she left the circuit for a pregnancy pause.

Bencic worked for nearly two and a half hours to secure victory in only her fourth event since returning to tennis; she reached the Australian Open fourth round last month in a show of strength and an indication of possible things to come.

She is the first mother to claim a singles title since Elina Svitolina in Strasbourg, May, 2023.

Bencic now owns nine WTA trophies and stands a flawless 9-0 at the Gulf venue.

The 27-year-old Swiss will shoot up the rankings from 157th to around 65th. She will miss next week’s tournament in Doha but will reappear in the final tournament of the February Gulf swing in Dubai from February 17.

She won that prestigious UAE event in 2019.

Main photo:- Belinda Bencic and daughter Bella with Abu Dhabi Trophy – by WTATennis.com

Last month’s breakthrough Grand Slam title at the Australian Open has turned into a curse for Madison Keys after the January title winner withdrew from her third straight post-Melbourne tournament.

The 29-year-old American was riding the wave at Melbourne Park after upsetting world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka with a three-set win in the final just over 10 days ago.

But the newly-hyped seventh-ranked Keys was then forced to withdraw from the WTA minor event in Austin under a rule which allowed only one already entered top 10 player (Jessica Pegula) in the field at that event level.

Keys accepted her fate but was then forced out of this week’s 500 event in Abu Dhabi by the hamstring injury which has forced her to pull from the 1000-level Dubai tournament starting February 17 in the emirate.

Keys will be hoping for fitness in time to play the American 1000 pair in Indian Wells and Miami next month.