Bencic shocks No. 7 Andreeva at Wimbledon

Belinda Bencic, playing in her first Wimbledon quarterfinal in nine appearances at the All England Club, upset Russian teen sensation Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) on Wednesday to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal and first in six years.

"I'm just speechless, honestly," said Bencic, who was unseeded for the tournament. "So happy."

On Thursday she will face No. 8 Iga Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion who will also be making her debut in the last four at Wimbledon. The other semifinal pits No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against No. 13 Amanda Anisimova; they advanced with wins Tuesday.

The No. 7-seeded Andreeva, who was bidding to become the first 18-year-old in the women's draw to reach the semifinals since Maria Sharapova in 2005, hadn't dropped a set in four matches and had played one set past 4-all.

Bencic, who at 28 is a decade older than Andreeva, is competing in her second major tournament since returning to the tour after giving birth to her first child -- a daughter named Bella -- in April 2024.

She missed last year's Wimbledon while she was on maternity leave and returned to competition last October. After starting the year ranked No. 489, she is set to reach the top 20 after this fortnight.

Bencic, whose only other major semifinal appearance came at the 2019 US Open, was one of nine mothers in the Wimbledon singles draw, but is the only one still in contention.

"I'm very proud, actually. All my career, I didn't say it a lot to myself, but after having Bella, I really say it to myself every day," Bencic said. "We are just enjoying life on tour with Bella, traveling. It's been beautiful to create these memories together. And obviously, to play great is so amazing, but for me, it's a bonus. I'm generally just really happy to be able to play again."

She joined Martina Hingis as the only Swiss women to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open era. Hingis won the title in 1997 and made the semis in 1998.

Bencic closed with +6600 odds to win this year's tournament, according to ESPN BET. The past three women's champions all had odds of +8000 or longer (Elena Rybakina in 2022 was 100-1, Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 was +8000, and Barbora Krejcikova last year was 100-1).

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.