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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Belinda Bencic vs Yulia Putintseva — 4-6 7-5 6-3
 Yulia Putintseva✓ | 4 | 7 | 6 |
 Belinda Bencic | 6 | 5 | 3 |
Final · Tuesday, September 1, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Bencic said beforehand exactly what would happen to her. "She'll try to break my rhythm — with slice, drop shots, high balls," she told SRF. "I think it will be really complicated, and a bit of chaos out there." It was. Putintseva's fastest serve of the afternoon was 100 mph, she gave the 12th seed nothing to hit against all match, and Bencic double-faulted nine times without landing an ace. Bencic still led 3-0 in the first set and took it, and led 2-0 in the second with two points for 3-0 — and from there won one more game in the set. Putintseva broke back, watched three break points go by in the next game, then took twelve of the last thirteen points, breaking to love at 5-5. The third set ended with eight straight points to the Kazakh and two breaks of serve. It was the seventh meeting of a rivalry going back to 2011, level at 3-3 beforehand and their first since 2023. Bencic goes out a round earlier than last year at her tenth US Open, five days after losing the mixed-doubles final on Ashe.
Belinda BencicRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
Round of 128 for the tournament's busiest player: Bencic converted Fan Week into a mixed doubles final with Cobolli, and now the singles — the campaign her 28-win season actually points at — begins against the rivalry opponent she has owned since 2019. The winner meets a qualifier in the Round of 64; the seedings then point through Osaka's neighborhood toward Rybakina's quarter. Sunday through Tuesday.
What we know now
Court: Stadium 17
Match length: 2:51
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
Bencic. The 12th seed arrives with a 28–12 season, a 2019 semi-final on these courts, and a fortnight's worth of fresh New York rhythm — she and Flavio Cobolli reached the mixed doubles final here on Wednesday night. The head-to-head with Putintseva reads 3–3, but read the dates: all three Putintseva wins predate 2020 (one in qualifying, one by retirement), while Bencic has taken the last three meetings without much argument. Putintseva at 31 remains the tour's most animated competitor — a 2020 quarter-finalist here whose retrieving and needle can unravel anyone having a bad day — and her 19–18 season is respectable. But Bencic's early-strike timing operates a class above, and it has already spent two weeks calibrated to these courts. Bencic in two.
The case for Belinda Bencic
76% to winBencic has won the rivalry's last three chapters, owns the section's best current season (28–12), and just spent two weeks winning matches on these exact courts through Wednesday's mixed final. Olympic champion in 2021, semi-finalist here in 2019 — her ball-taken-early timing is the cleanest in the quarter, and it is match-sharp right now.
The case for Yulia Putintseva
24% to winPutintseva has beaten Bencic three times, made a quarter-final here, and thrives precisely when opponents arrive with expectations — the mixed doubles final's feel-good fortnight is exactly the kind of narrative she delights in puncturing. Her retrieving forces the early-strike game to hit four winners a rally instead of one.
Both cases written 2026-08-28, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
My locked pick: Belinda Bencic to advance ✗ WRONG
“The last three chapters of the rivalry, the best season in the section, and two extra weeks of court time on these exact courts.”
Locked 2026-08-28 06:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Belinda BencicYulia PutintsevaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level, incl. tour-event qualifying) · as of 2026-08-27.
Storylines
- Bencic reached the mixed doubles final here with Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday — losing to Muchová and Menšík — and opens her singles four days later.
- The head-to-head is 3–3, but Bencic has won the last three meetings; Putintseva's wins all predate 2020.
- Bencic's 2019 semi-final and Putintseva's 2020 quarter-final make this one of the round's most credentialed unseeded-versus-seed pairings.
Head to head
Three–three across fifteen years — but directional: Putintseva's wins came in 2011 qualifying, a 2017 retirement and 2019 Miami; Bencic has taken the last three, most recently 7-6(0) 6-3 at the 2023 United Cup, all on hard courts.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level, incl. tour-event qualifying) · as of 2026-08-27.
Court & schedule: Stadium 17, Tuesday 1 September. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-08-30)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — was forecast at 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that could not be pushed back. The rain came in the morning and stopped before the final, which Ashe played with its roof open. It cleared from there: 15% overnight, 15% Monday, then dry and sunny. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.