NBO Montreal Tale of the Tape: Bouchard vs. Bencic

Her fine play, combined with rapturous support from her home crowd, indeed ensured at least one more match on the courts she knows so well. 

Here’s a preview of the 31-year-old’s second round clash against no. 17 seed Belinda Bencic at IGA Stadium. 

First round reflections  

These days, Bouchard lines up more in pickleball than tennis. She intends to play even more of it once her career finishes this week. As her net play faltered in the second set Monday against Emiliana Arango, Bouchard (somewhat funnily) said her pickleball play affected her volleys. 

But there were more than a few glimpses of her famed ball striking from the baseline and swinging volleys as Bouchard tallied a first win since 2023 and first in Montreal since 2016. 

Players competing at home often cite the crowd’s help in getting through matches and Bouchard indeed thanked the Montreal faithful. It was far from perfunctory. 

After breaking for 5-1 in the final set with the crowd going wild, Bouchard experienced a rare phenomenon. 

“The crowd was so noisy that I didn't feel my body for 30 seconds,” she said.

Bencic had a bye in the first round, which can be a blessing or a curse. 

Bencic presents different challenge 

While Arango is still relatively inexperienced, that isn’t the case with Bencic. Not only that, but Bencic has featured much higher in the rankings than the no. 82-ranked Arango. 

Bencic first competed as a Top 20 player in Toronto in 2015 and beat Bouchard that week on the way to the NBO title. In early 2016, she went even higher, inside the Top 10. In five of the last six seasons, the Swiss has finished inside the Top 25. 

The exception was last year – when Bencic barely played after becoming a mom (to daughter Bella) for the first time. 

Bencic has also never lost to Bouchard, holding a 3-0 record. She redirects with the best of them and can do almost anything when hitting with her backhand, as many would have noted during her foray to the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier in July.

Bouchard will be competing in only her third singles match of 2025. 

NBO results 

Bencic’s crown in Toronto might have come 10 years ago but it’s worth revisiting how she triumphed. Then aged 18, Bencic overcame four Top 10 players, including Serena Williams and Simona Halep. The other two foes she beat were Wimbledon finalists in Bouchard and Sabine Lisicki. 

But Bencic hasn’t stopped there in Canada, later making a quarter-final in Toronto and another quarter-final in Montreal in 2023. 

If Bouchard springs the upset, it would mark only the second time she’s won back-to-back matches at the NBO after 2016 in Montreal. In Toronto, Bouchard sports a 1-7 record. 

The last time Bouchard prevailed against a Top 20 player came in 2017 but as she said Monday, she still knows how to play tennis. 

“The tennis habits kind of kicked back in,” she said. “I haven't played in front of a crowd like that in a while or a big match like that in a while. I really tried to be disciplined with my focus.”

“…all my habits, my between-point habits, my changeover habits, that kind of came back. I don't really use those in pickleball, so it's been a while, and I'm a little rusty with them, but they were there. It was still inside me.”

Photo: Tim Austen