Belinda Bencic is usually the picture of calm and composure on a tennis court. Even in defeat, the Swiss pro rarely lets her emotions get the better of her. But during her opening-round loss to Yulia Putintseva at the US Open, that composed side briefly disappeared as frustration got the better of her.
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In the heat of the moment, Bencic struck a ball into the spectator area, accidentally hitting a seated fan. However, she narrowly escaped punishment for the incident, unlike Novak Djokovic, who was defaulted from the 2020 US Open after accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball.
During her opening round match, Bencic was cruising, having won the first set and holding a 2-0 lead in the second. However, Putintseva fought back in the second set and broke the Swiss player’s serve to make it 1-2. Having let go of a decisive lead in the match, Bencic was frustrated, as she hit the spare ball backward. However, instead of hitting the wall, the ball flew into the crowd and hit a spectator.
This led to a disruption in the match, as Putintseva immediately pointed out the incident to the chair umpire, calling for Bencic’s default. The Swiss immediately raised her hand in apology, and fortunately for her, the spectator in question was not injured. Hence, she was not handed a default, but the chair umpire did impose a code violation on the Swiss player. The Kazakh then drew a comparison with Djokovic’s incident and said, “But the person that Djokovic hit was also fine.”
Back in 2020, much like Bencic, Djokovic’s frustration boiled over after he dropped serve to fall 6-5 behind against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the Round of 16. He then pulled a ball from his pocket and hit it behind him, inadvertently striking the line judge in the throat, leaving her visibly distressed on court and ultimately leading tournament officials to default the Serbian star.
The incident prompted a lengthy discussion involving Djokovic, tournament referee Soeren Friemel and Grand Slam supervisor Andreas Egli. Djokovic appeared to argue his case at the net before eventually accepting the decision and shaking hands with Carreno Busta, who was visibly stunned as he waited for the outcome.
At the time, the United States Tennis Association statement said: “In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, following his actions of intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences, the tournament referee defaulted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 US Open.”
The statement further asserted the Serbian’s disqualification, “Because he was defaulted, Djokovic will lose all ranking points earned at the US Open and will be fined the prize money won at the tournament in addition to any or all fines levied with respect to the offending incident.”
Notably, such instances fall within the subjective discretion of the umpire, who must deem the hitting of the ball intentional and even adjudicate whether the spectator in question has sustained a serious injury; the two parameters went in favor of Bencic. These considerations have been used previously as well, with Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, when the Greek player struck a ball into the stands.
However, since the spectator was only narrowly missed by the ball, the Greek player escaped a default despite some intense lobbying from his opponent, Nick Kyrgios.
A similar moment unfolded at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday. After a chaotic sequence of events, it was Putintseva who came out on top, handing 12th seed Bencic a shock opening-round defeat.
How Putintseva Pulled Off a Shock Against Bencic
Bencic started the match strong against Putintseva, getting an early 3-0 lead in the first set. The Kazakh, however, came back in the set, tying it at 4-4, only to lose her serve again in the tenth game, handing the Swiss the opening set at 6-4.
Bencic seemed to have all the momentum as she broke early in the second set to take a 2-0 lead. Putintseva broke back in the third game, and the ensuing default controversy did not seem to affect Bencic, who held her serve until 5-5. However, the Kazakh maintained the pressure, getting the break in the eleventh game and then closing out the set at 7-5.
The third set was a close contest as well, with both players tied at 3-3. However, this is when Putintseva made the decisive surge, winning the next three games to win the match. Even though the controversy did not seem to affect Bencic’s tennis, the result will be a disappointment to her, given that she is a former semifinalist at Flushing Meadows, and had been in decent form as she reached the quarterfinals in Toronto.
As for Putintseva, the Kazakh’s matches have often been the center of controversy, especially at the Slams. At the Australian Open this year, she had to fend off a partisan crowd while playing Zeynep Sonmez. However, to her credit, the Kazakh won, after which she mocked the entire crowd, drawing boos from them.
Having beaten Bencic, Putintseva will face yet another Olympic champion in her next round, as she takes on Zheng Qinwen. The Chinese player is gradually building her form at the US Open as she qualified for the main draw and got the better of Kristina Liutova in a three-set battle in the first round.