The WTA title winner who has climbed 476 ranking spots this year and is now almost top 10

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WTA players are still continuing to climb up the rankings with very few tournaments left in the season.

There were two WTA tournaments taking place this week, with both the Tokyo Open and the Guangzhou Open.

The Tokyo Open in particular had big stakes in terms of qualification for the WTA Finals, with Elena Rybakina beating Victoria Mboko to qualify for the year-end event.

However, after that was confirmed, Rybakina withdrew from her Tokyo Open semifinal and another player went on to continue her rise up the rankings.

Belinda Bencic continues huge rise up the rankings after winning the Tokyo Open

Due to withdrawals and retirements, Linda Noskova had spent nearly five fewer hours on court than Belinda Bencic to reach the Tokyo Open final.

However, that did not seem to matter as Bencic beat Noskova to win the Tokyo Open and her second WTA title of the 2025 season.

After giving birth to her first child, Bencic returned to tennis in October last year when she was ranked outside the top 1400.

Bencic, who has a career-high ranking of world number four, played her first few tournaments on the ITF Tour, and was able to return to the top 500 before the end of the 2025 season.

The former Olympic champion has taken this even further in 2025, with Bencic winning the Abu Dhabi Open in February to return to the top 100.

Bencic has also reached the Wimbledon semifinals, Indian Wells quarterfinals and now she has won another title in Tokyo.

As a result, Bencic will be the world number 11 when the WTA rankings are updated and has now climbed an incredible 476 places just within this year.

Can Belinda Bencic break into the top 10 this year?

Bencic’s season is not even over yet, as she has also taken a wildcard to play the WTA 250 event in Hong Kong.

The Swiss is only 229 ranking points behind Ekaterina Alexandrova in 10th spot, and could overtake her if she wins the Hong Kong Tennis Open.

However, that would only be short-lived as Bencic has 85 ranking points to defend from reaching the WTA 125 final in Angers last year.

Bencic will play Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round of the Hong Kong Tennis Open, and also has Sofia Kenin, Maya Joint, and Emiliana Arango in her half.

Some of the potentially bigger threats are in the other half of the draw, including Leylah Fernandez, Victoria Mboko, Anna Kalinskaya and Sorana Cirstea.