The Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis quarterfinals were completed in dramatic fashion as both Belinda Bencic and Sofia Kenin escaped from match point down to set a semifinal meeting against each other.

Tokyo: Scores | Draws | Order of play

No. 5 seed Bencic was a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 victor over No. 8 seed Karolina Muchova despite the Czech serving for the match at 5-4 in both the second and third sets, and holding one match point in her second attempt. Earlier, No. 10 seed Kenin saved four match points as she overturned a 5-2 final-set deficit against No. 3 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova to win 6-0, 2-6, 7-6(3).

Marathon woman Bencic does it again

Bencic’s 3-hour, 8-minute triumph was the 48th tour-level match of 2025 that has passed the three-hour mark. She’s been involved in four of those, including three in her past four matches — last week, she won the longest match of the season in 3 hours and 33 minutes over Yuliia Starodubtseva in the Ningbo second round before falling in 3 hours and 22 minutes to Jasmine Paolini in the quarterfinals.

The 28-year-old mother-of-one was all too aware of her court time recently.

“It’s my third match in the last four that went over three hours, so I feel like I should try to play a regular match,” she said in her on-court interview. “I’m exhausted now but really happy. to win, I think it was a big fight from both of us. [On the final point] I was just hoping it was over and I just tried to go for it, tried to be aggressive and tried to take my own luck in the hands.”

Bencic had been slow to find her range in the first set, tallying 14 unforced errors to just five winners as she was repeatedly foiled by Muchova’s touch in defense. Even an ankle injury that required a mid-game medical time-out in the second game of the second set didn’t halt Muchova’s momentum: she broke Bencic in the next game and advanced to a 5-3 lead.

But Muchova’s groundstrokes began finding the net, and Bencic pulled off a superb lob en route to breaking back for 5-5. That was part of a seven-game swing towards the Swiss player, who jumped out to 3-0 in the decider. Muchova responded by taking five of the next six games in a flurry of drop shots and down-the-line winners — but at match point up, having opened the court up nicely for herself, the sent a backhand long. On the next point, she failed to put a smash away, and Bencic seized her opportunity to find the pass.

Indeed, the home stretch was a triumph of clutch play from Bencic. From 5-4 down, each of the last three games went to multiple deuces — and Bencic won all of them. The end result was her first win from match point down since defeating Liudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 in the 2023 Abu Dhabi final after saving three championship points.

Four match points saved! Kenin escapes Alexandrova in Tokyo comeback

Last year’s finalist Kenin handles pressure of point defense

Players often tell the press that focusing too much on defending points is an unhelpful mindset with which to approach a tournament. That doesn’t stop the pressure existing, and Kenin was open about how she’s felt it this week in Tokyo.

Last year, the American was runner-up to Zheng Qinwen here — part of a resurgence that’s seen her rise to No. 25 this week, her highest position since 2022. But her form had dropped off since reaching the Charleston final in April — between that tournament and this week, Kenin did not reach a quarterfinal and compiled a main-draw record of just 9-15. Had she lost her opener in Tokyo, she could have slumped back out of the Top 30.

“I had pressure coming into the tournament because I had finals points falling off,” Kenin said afterwards. “But luckily I was able to defend it, more or less — I definitely feel more at peace. Of course, I waited til the last second to catch up, but it’s OK!”

She’s rediscovered her mojo in Tokyo, coming through consecutive third-set tiebreaks against 17-year-old wild card Wakana Sonobe and Alexandrova to reach her second semifinal of the year. Against Alexandrova, Kenin was in full flow at times — particularly in the first set — with cleverly constructed all-court points.

Alexandrova required medical treatment leading 4-2 in the decider, and again at 5-2. Despite that, she got to the edge of victory — only for Kenin to grit her way through consecutive four-deuce games, saving two match points with clean winners and another two with unreturned serves.

“Mentality is definitely a big part,” Kenin said. “It’s such a rollercoaster. It was up and down, so it was very hard to focus after she took the medical time-out. I lost a very close game after that, then I saved a lot of match points. If I hadn’t been feeling really good on court physically, mentally, game-wise I think I definitely would not have won. Having everything click throughout the match was really great.”

Kenin has won from match point down three times this year so far — she also saved two en route to beating Marta Kostyuk 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) in the Dubai second round and two again en route to beating Anastasia Zakharova 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the Wuhan first round. She has also lost from match point up three times in 2025, missing one against Clara Tauson in the Auckland second round, two against Anastasia Potapova in the Madrid second round and three against Madison Keys in the Roland Garros third round.

Kenin holds a 2-0 record against Bencic, having won 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 in the 2019 Mallorca final on grass (saving three championship points) and 6-0, 6-3 in the Charleston third round this year on clay.

Forty-eight three-hour tour-level matches this season to date

Here are all of 2025’s three-hour WTA main draw matches so far (as of October 24): 

1. Belinda Bencic d. Yuliia Starodubtseva 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, Ningbo R2 (3:33)
2. Coco Gauff d. Zheng Qinwen 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4), Rome SF (3:32)
3. Viktorija Golubic d. Arantxa Rus 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(10), Cluj-Napoca R1 (3:30)
4. Maria Sakkari d. Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5, Beijing R1 (3:29)
5. Ella Seidel d. Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-5, Seoul R2 (3:28)
6. Lucia Bronzetti d. Zhu Lin 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(6), Cincinnati R1 (3:27)
7. Laura Siegemund d. Tatjana Maria 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-6(2), Montreal R1 (3:26)
8. Tatjana Maria d. Chloe Paquet 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, Bogota R1 (3:25)
T9. Aliaksandra Sasnovich d. Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6[8], Wimbledon R1 (3:24)
T9. Lois Boisson d. Dalma Galfi 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-2, Beijing R1 (3:24)
T11. Gao Xinyu d. Beatriz Haddad Maia 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, United Cup RR (3:22)
T11. Jasmine Paolini d. Belinda Bencic 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, Ningbo QF (3:22)
T13. Daria Kasatkina d. Peyton Stearns 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5, Brisbane R2 (3:21)
T13. Liudmila Samsonova d. Jessica Pegula 6-7(8), 7-5, 7-6(5), Berlin R2 (3:21)
T13. Diane Parry d. Tara Wuerth 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-5, Hamburg R1 (3:21)
T16. Emma Navarro d. Peyton Stearns 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5, Australian Open R1 (3:20)
T16. Wang Xinyu d. Jil Teichmann 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4, Singapore QF (3:20)
T18. Laura Siegemund d. Hailey Baptiste 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, Australian Open R1 (3:16)
T18. Jaqueline Cristian d. Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, Indian Wells R2 (3:16)
T18. Yuliia Starodubtseva d. Wang Yafan 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, Montreal R1 (3:16)
T21. Yulia Putintseva d. Diana Shnaider 7-6(3), 6-7(9), 6-4, Adelaide QF (3:14)
T21. Harriet Dart d. Jana Fett 7-5, 2-6, 7-6[7], Australian Open R1 (3:14)
23. Rebecca Sramkova d. Laura Siegemund 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(6), Nottingham R1 (3:13)
T24. Jule Niemeier d. Laura Siegemund 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Stuttgart R1 (3:12)
T24. Magdalena Frech  d. Sara Errani 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5), Stuttgart R1 (3:12)
T24. Emiliana Arango d. Viktoriya Tomova 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-4, Rome R1 (3:12)
T24. Leylah Fernandez d. Elena Rybakina 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 7-6(3), Washington SF (3:12)
T28. Clara Tauson d. Caroline Dolehide 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, Washington R2 (3:10)
T28. Renata Zarazua d. Madison Keys 6-7(10), 7-6(3), 7-5, US Open R1 (3:10)
T30. Aryna Sabalenka d. Emma Raducanu 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5), Cincinnati R3 (3:09)
T30. Moyuka Uchijima d. Olga Danilovic 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6[9], US Open R1 (3:09)
T32. Anastasia Zakharova d. Kimberly Birrell 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, Cleveland R1 (3:08)
T32. Belinda Bencic d. Karolina Muchova 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, Tokyo QF (3:08)
34. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro d. Louisa Chirico 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, Montreal R1 (3:06)
T35. Katie Volynets d. Erika Andreeva 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2, Auckland R1 (3:05)
T35. Leolia Jeanjean d. Yuliia Starodubtseva 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, Cincinnati R1 (3:05)
37. Barbora Krejcikova d. Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6(13), 6-3, US Open R4 (3:04)
T38. Cristina Bucsa d. Emma Raducanu 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, Singapore R1 (3:03)
T38. Belinda Bencic d. Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2), Madrid R3 (3:03)
T38. Jaqueline Cristian d. Camila Osorio  6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4, Rabat SF (3:03)
41. Beatriz Haddad Maia d. Emma Navarro 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, Strasbourg QF (3:02)
T42. Sorana Cirstea d. Emma Navarro 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5, Dubai R3 (3:01)
T42. Camila Osorio d. Ann Li 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5, Beijing R1 (3:01)
T42. Laura Siegemund d. Mirra Andreeva 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3, Wuhan R2 (3:01)
T45. Destanee Aiava d. Greet Minnen 5-7, 7-5, 7-6[6], Australian Open R1 (3:00)
T45. Anna Bondar d. Noma Noha Akugue 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3), Hamburg R1 (3:00)
T45. Ajla Tomljanovic d. Renata Zarazua 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1), Monterrey R1 (3:00)
T45. Diana Shnaider d. Elise Mertens 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4), Monterrey QF (3:00)

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