Serena Williams tastes victory again after a year away in Toronto

Three-time champion Serena Williams advances to second round of Toronto Open, 6-3 against Spain's Nuria Palisas Diaz on Monday With a 6-4 win, Wimbledon champions Jelena Ryvakina and Simona Halep also advanced.

In her second singles match since returning from her year-long absence at Wimbledon in June, Williams won a match lasting nearly two hours. I was forced to dig deeper. hot and humid conditions.

"Mentally, I feel like I'm getting there. I'm not where I've always been, and I'm not where I want to be," Williams told reporters.

"Physically, I'm actually feeling a lot better. It's like bringing that onto the court. He's the kind of person who just does things and clicks, so I'm just waiting for it to click." One of the winners, Williams, won the opening round with a vintage smash on the fourth set point, which Parisas Diaz had no chance of. return.

The second set was even tighter, with Williams holding her serve well in her 18-minute physically demanding game, during which she saved four break points. Dodging she caught up 4-4. She has her first singles title since the 2021 French Open.

"It's only one win for him. It's going to take a long time. But like I said, it was nice to win," Williams said. ``It's been a long time. .

Halep, who withdrew from her second-round bout in Washington last week due to illness, is her two-time major champion, but Croatia's Donna Vekic she beat her 6-0 6. It only took her 61 minutes to win -2.

"It's not about the result, it's about how you played," said the former World Amber 1, who never faced a break point. "I've been very aggressive and I've played fast, so that's my goal and I try to do that every day." Following her victory at Wimbledon in the 2018 World Cup, she was eliminated in the first round, beating Czech Marie Buzkova 7-5 6-7(3) 6-1. First Grand Slam win.

Sloane Stevens was cruising 6-2, 5-1 against Sophia Kenin in the former major winner's U.S. Open, but the 2020 Australian Open champions had five wins in the last two sets.

Former US Open champion Stevens finished 6-2 6-7(5) 7- in an eventual rain-interrupted contest. 5 to set up a matchup with third seed Maria Sakkari (Greece).

Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko also beat American Alison Riske in her second round match against Amritraj and at Wimbledon she overtook two-time champion Petra Kvitova 6-2 4- 6 6-3 defeated.

Multiple major his champion Venus Williams, 42, was unable to join his sister in the second round, and was unable to join Switzerland's Gilles He Teichmann in the final match of the day. We lost 6-2 6-3. empty stadium. (