Newest tennis mothers suffer mixed Madrid results

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