MY ACCOUNT
Emma Raducanu stormed to a memorable win over Serena Williams in the opening round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati — defeating the 23-time Grand Slam champion 6-4 6-0 in the pair’s first-ever meeting.
Williams, 40, has confirmed she will retire after the US Open later this month and she was given a rousing reception by the crowd.
But despite showing fight early on, the American found Raducanu too hot to handle as England’s 19-year-old world No11 eased to victory.
After her straight-sets win, Raducanu said: “We should all honour Serena and her amazing career.
“I’m so grateful for the experience to have been able to play her and for our careers to have crossed over.
“Everything she’s achieved is so inspirational. It was a true honour to share the court with her.”
After being broken to love in the very first game of the match, Williams found her footing and even secured a break of her own in the opening set, but a second for Raducanu saw her comfortably serve out the opening frame.
Raducanu dominated the second set. Williams was only able to win 35 per cent (seven-of-20) of her service points and 20 per cent (three-of-15) while returning.
Venus Williams, 42, was also eliminated in her opening match, going down 7-5 6-1 against Karolina Pliskova, with Pliskova now scheduled to take on Elise Mertens in the second round after a 6-1 6-1 thrashing of Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina.
Earlier in the day, Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic was upset 6-2 6-7 6-4 by Belgium’s Sorana Cirstea, and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka went down to China’s Shuai Zhang 6-4 7-5.
Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya collected a top-30 win against Martina Trevisan 7-6 7-5, earning a second-round matchup against world No7 Aryna Sabalenka.
In an all-American clash, the in-form Shelby Rogers was too good for Sofia Kenin, winning 6-2 6-1 to relegate Kenin to her ninth consecutive loss.
World No2 Anett Kontaveit came from a set down to defeat Tereza Martincova 3-6 7-5 6-4, while rising star Coco Gauff was forced to retire due to injury while trailing 5-7 0-1 against Marie Bouzkova.
Simona Halep, ranked sixth in the world, had her hands full in a 6-4 3-6 6-3 win against late entrant Anastasia Potapova, and the woman Halep beat in last week’s Canadian Open final, Beatriz Haddad Maia, suffered an early exit at the hands of Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 6-4.
In the late matches, Madison Keys was too strong for Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-5 6-3.
And France’s Caroline Garcia continued her scintillating form with a big upset 7-6 6-7 6-1 victory against world No3 Maria Sakkari, giving her nine wins from her past 10 matches, including over world No1 Iga Swiatek last month.
