Lois Boisson returned to the court with a straight-sets win and no sign of caution. The 23-year-old beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday in the first round of the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, a result that gave her opening match back after weeks away because of a serious injury.
The win mattered because Boisson did not arrive in Cincinnati in ideal shape. She had only 2 wins and 8 losses before the tournament, and yet she still earned her place in the draw after being invited to compete. For a player who was a semifinalist at Roland-Garros last year, the setting offered a quick chance to show that the level that carried her deep in Paris has not vanished.
That is why her next match drew attention before she even finished Krueger off. On Saturday, Boisson was scheduled to face Belinda Bencic in the first round on the outdoor hard courts, and the contrast was plain. Bencic, ranked 12th at the WTA, has been one of the more consistent players of the season, with a United Cup title for Switzerland, quarterfinal runs in Miami and Toronto, and the round of 16 at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. Since 2024 on outdoor hard courts, she has a 48-18 record, far stronger than Boisson’s 5-5 mark on the surface over the same stretch.
But Bencic did not come in without a question mark of her own. In Toronto, she reached the quarterfinals before retiring against Coco Gauff because of a hip injury, and that made her fitness part of the story even with her recent form. Boisson, meanwhile, had spent many weeks away from competition and was trying to rebuild rhythm one match at a time. Her opener suggested that the return has started in better shape than the numbers before Cincinnati would have implied.
What happens next is simple and unforgiving: Boisson and Bencic will play for a place in the third round, with Boisson trying to turn a surprise return into a real run and Bencic trying to prove the hip issue in Toronto was only a brief interruption.
