Yulia Putintseva beat Belinda Bencic in the first round of the U.S. Open, erasing early deficits in both sets and leaving the No. 12 seed with another abrupt exit in New York. Bencic, who led 3-0 in the first set and 2-0 in the second, had the match slip away over nearly three hours before she double-faulted on the first match point.
The result mattered beyond one score line. Putintseva entered ranked No. 84, but Bencic was the 2021 Olympic champion and a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2019, which made the loss more than a routine first-round upset. It also arrived on a day when every Swiss player in the first round lost, extending a bruising run for a country that had hoped Bencic would carry the draw deeper.
Bencic said late Tuesday evening that her game “completely fell apart” and that she could not capitalize on her chances, spending too much energy just to win points. She added that the harder she tried, the worse it got, a description that fit the way the match turned after she kept giving back control. The warning she received after accidentally sending a ball over the barrier came before the final collapse, but it did not explain it.
That missing explanation is part of why the defeat lands so hard. Bencic had recently withdrawn from Toronto and Cincinnati because of hip problems, and the U.S. Open was supposed to be a chance to reset. Instead, the last Swiss player left in the draw was gone, Stan Wawrinka had already fallen as a wild card, and no other Swiss player was expected to sit inside the top 180 after the tournament. The pattern is stark: the Swiss arrived with familiar names, but none of them survived the first round.
For Bencic, the numbers say enough. She started fast, led twice, and still ended with another early loss. For Switzerland, the bigger issue is what comes after the opening round, because there is no rescue left in this draw and no obvious Swiss run still to watch.
