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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Belinda Bencicvs
Yulia Putintseva
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Belinda Bencic to advance · locked 2026-08-28 06:40 UTCPrediction
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, quoted to a decimal because false precision is funnier — and tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
Tale of the tape
Belinda BencicYulia PutintsevaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-27.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level, incl. tour-event qualifying) · as of 2026-08-27.
The briefing
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.
Watch: Opening-round coverage starts Sunday at 11 a.m. ET across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, including a whip-around channel for the early rounds. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Not yet assigned — the US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before, so day-one courts land the night of 29 August. A mixed-final protagonist's singles opener profiles for a featured court. (US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-27)
Weather: The opening window looks kind: mostly sunny and 85–86°F Sunday and Monday, with thunderstorm chances only creeping in on Tuesday. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs if the sky turns; the field courts wait it out. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-27)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
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.
Belinda BencicYulia PutintsevaRound of 128
Belinda BencicYulia PutintsevaRound of 64