Belinda Bencic returned to Roland-Garros and made it look routine. The 11th seed beat Julia Kraus 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday to reach the second round of the 2026 French Open, her first win at the tournament since 2022.
The result keeps Bencic’s season moving in the right direction. It was her 19th victory of 2026, and it puts her on a path toward a projected round-of-16 meeting with Elina Svitolina, the No. 7 seed in that section of the draw.
There was more to this return than the scoreline. Bencic had not played in Paris since 2023, before the birth of her daughter Bella, so the win marked a straightforward re-entry into a place she had been away from for two seasons. She did not need a long recovery from the layoff, either. Kraus never took control, and Bencic handled the match in straight sets without giving the German much of a look at an upset.
That matters because the women’s draw is already starting to sort itself around Bencic’s quarter. The Swiss player is seeded to face Svitolina in the round of 16, but that meeting is only projected for now. First comes the small matter of getting through the next round, and then the bracket will decide whether the Paris comeback becomes the first chapter of a deeper run.
Elsewhere in the same section, Caty McNally beat Ajla Tomljanovic 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 after trailing 3-6, 0-3 to earn her first main-draw win at Roland-Garros, while Xinyu Wang, the 32nd seed, defeated Lilli Tagger 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 after arriving in Paris having lost five of her previous six matches.
For Bencic, the day was about something simpler: she came back to Paris, found her rhythm immediately and left no doubt that she belongs in the conversation again. The next test is bigger, but the first answer was already clear.
