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Toronto — Serena The first stop on Williams' farewell tour came quickly to a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Belinda Bencic in second-round action at the Canadian Open on Wednesday, a day after he announced his retirement from tennis.
Although Williams received a standing ovation when he took to the court and fully supported the sold out crowd throughout the 77-minute match, he was no stranger to the old magic that helped him win three Canadian titles. could not be awakened.
"Very interesting she was 24 hours...so bad at goodbye. But goodbye Toronto," an emotional Williams told the audience.
"We've always had a great time on and off the court. I'll be back as a visitor to the city, but other than that it's been amazing.
After the game, Williams was presented with team jerseys from Toronto's NBA and NHL teams for her and her daughter, who was in attendance, as well as a bouquet of flowers she brought off the court while wiping away tears.
Prior to the match, tennis pioneer Billie Jean King, current players such as Coco Gauff and Emma Radukhanu, ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky, A tribute video was played featuring comments from Williams' Canadian victory.
This highly anticipated match took place at the 23-time Grand Slam champion. It came a day after Williams revealed in a Vogue article that she was "evolving away from tennis" and planned to retire from the sport she'd ruled for over two years. decades.
Olympic champion Bencic saved the only break point he faced in the first set, breaking Williams twice to take a 5-2 lead, but the Swiss' The 12th seed Bencic needed five set points to win the first set. flame.
In the second set, Bencic got the one break he needed to take his 4-3 lead when Williams committed a double fault and when Williams sent the return. , Bencic never looked back as he closed out the match with his own serve. It's long.
"Obviously a lot of emotion," Williams said of his feelings on the court. "I love playing here, I always loved playing here. I wish I could have played better, but Belinda played very well today." is No. 8 seed Garbine Muguruza, who beat Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-4 6-4.
Among the other members who reached the final 16 of the tune-up events from August 29 to September 29, the 11-time U.S. Open was followed by world number one Eiga Sphere. It was Tech, defending champion Camila Giorgi, Coco Gauff, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Jessica Pegula and Alina Sabalenka. (Reporting by Frank Pinge; Sri Navaratnam; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
