Yulia Putintseva rallied from a slow start to beat Belinda Bencic in the first round of the U.S. Open, handing the No. 12 seed an early exit in New York.
Bencic led in both the first and second sets before the match turned against her, and the loss capped a dismal showing for Swiss tennis at the tournament. It was the third time in seven years that all Swiss players lost in the first round at the U.S. Open, following 2020 and 2024.
Bencic, who is ranked No. 84, later said, “In the end, my game completely fell apart,” and added that she “wasn’t able to capitalize on my chances and kept expending a lot of energy just to win points.” She said, “And the harder I tried, the worse it got,” calling it “a mega, mega frustrating moment.”
Why the loss matters
The result stood out not just because Bencic was the No. 12 seed, but because it came after Swiss tennis had produced a more encouraging run in 2024. Leandro Riedi reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Open last year, while Jérôme Kym made the third round.
This time, though, the picture was much different. With Bencic out, Swiss tennis had a first-round sweep in New York, and after the U.S. Open there will be no other Swiss player in the top 180 in the world rankings.
The broader backdrop also included Roger Federer being celebrated during the U.S. Open and inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a reminder of how high the standard has been for Swiss tennis even as this year’s results fell short.
Putintseva’s win came after nearly three hours on court and moved her through a match in which Bencic also committed three double faults. For Putintseva, the comeback was enough to turn an early deficit into a significant first-round result.
For Bencic and Swiss tennis, it was another difficult night at a tournament that has now delivered repeated early exits.
