TORONTO, Canada – No.11 seed Belinda Bencic made a belated and triumphant return to the scene of one of her greatest triumphs at the Rogers Cup, defeating teenage qualifier Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 6-1 in one hour and four minutes.

The Swiss player won her second title in stunning fashion in Toronto in 2015, beating four of the Top 6 players in the world along the way – including Serena Williams and Simona Halep in the last two rounds. But she has not played in Canada since, unable to defend her title in Montréal in 2016 due to a wrist injury that continued to afflict her in 2017 and – ranked too low to enter the main draw – opting to schedule Washington and Cincinnati instead in 2018. But the 22-year-old picked up where she left off today, never facing a break point and turning in a confident and efficient performance to assert her authority over her 18-year-old opponent.