The day after the announcement of her upcoming retirement, Serena Williams could not afford a reprieve at the WTA 1000 in Toronto, eliminated in the second round by the Swiss Belinda Bencic, on Wednesday, unlike the world N.1 Iga Swiatek went into 8th without a hitch.
The 40-year-old American, who won her first match of the year on Monday, six weeks after her missed return to Wimbledon, by beating the modest Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz, this time fell on stronger than her, yielding 6 -2, 6-4 in 1h18 against the 12th player in the world.
If she was sometimes able to make her power speak, Williams paid for an obvious lack of mobility and too many unforced errors, only creating an opportunity to break at the end of the first inning, under the eyes of a public won over to her cause. , some waving signs that read "
Queen
" (Queen) or simply "
Thank you
".
“
I could have played better, but Belinda was very good.
I was very happy to be able to be here today.
These 24 hours have generated many emotions.
Like I said, I'm not good at goodbyes
,” Williams commented, eyes misty.
The day before, she had announced that "
the countdown is on
" regarding her retirement from the courts, after 25 years of career and 23 Grand Slam titles to her name.
Direction Cincinnati
“
There comes a time in life when you have to decide to take a new route.
It's always a difficult moment when you love what you do so much.
And God knows I love tennis
,” she explained on her Instagram account and in an interview with Vogue magazine, saying she wanted to “
savor the next few weeks
.”
Her program should lead her from Monday to Cincinnati, before the US Open (August 29-September 11), which she has won six times and which could well be the perfect place for farewells.
"
It's always an honor to be on the court with her
", paid tribute to Bencic, winner of the tournament in 2015, who will face the Spaniard Garbine Muguruza (8th) in 8th.
Earlier, as serene as expeditious, Iga Swiatek, winner of the last Roland-Garros, made a success of its entry in the running at the expense of the Australian 6-1, 6-2 Ajla Tomjanovic (72nd).
Irresistible in the spring on the American hard court, where she won in Indian Wells and Miami, the Pole is off to a perfect start to her summer, which should also lead her to the US Open where she will be the favorite to try to get there. win a second Grand Slam in 2022.
Abandonment of Badosa and Jabeur
To begin her second tournament since losing to Alize Cornet in the third round of Wimbledon, which ended her streak of 37 victories, she had no trouble getting rid of Tomjanovic.
The latter, from qualifying, only resisted him at the start of the second set, breaking twice in a row, before giving in after 1:05.
“
I'm quite happy to have been able to play my game. It was the first game, so it's never easy.
But I feel like I found my rhythm, it was a pretty solid performance
,” said Swiatek.
The Polish, in search of a seventh title in 2022, will face in the next round the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (24th), who got rid 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 of the Canadian Leylah Fernandez (13th ), finalist of the US Open last year.
At the same time, Coco Gauff (11th), beaten in the Roland-Garros final by Swiatek, played to scare herself before finally defeating 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/ 3) Kazakh Elena Rybakina (27th).
The 18-year-old American will challenge Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (6th) in the round of 16.
Finally, two favorites were forced to retire: the Spaniard Paula Badosa (3rd), victim of cramps, and the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (5th), finalist at Wimbledon, suffering from breathing difficulties, respectively in favor of Yulia Puntisteva (46th) and Qinwen Zheng (51st).
