British Open Upsets Serena Williams (And Everyone Else) In Cincinnati
British Open Upsets Serena Williams (And Everyone Else) In Cincinnati: Emma Raducanu, who is from Romania, did not hold back, beating Serena Williams 6-4 6-0 in the first round of the CC Cincinnati Open. At the age of 40, Williams plans to retire after her last US Open tournament.
Garbine Muguruza’s skilled Champion Slam Performance lost to Tamaryn Hendler’s disciplined performance 19-year-old opponent Raducanu. Playing former US Open champion Raducanu in round two, Victoria Azarenka.
World number 13 Raducanu is grateful for the coaching experience she’s had playing Serena and for her careers to cross over. The rising Romanian tennis star was superb in their last match, and the New York Grand Slam title will be hers if she can find some consistency.
British number two Dan Evans retired injured in a straight 6-3 6-4 loss to Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic. Meanwhile, with the US Open on the horizon, winning is harder than ever for defending champion Naomi Osaka, who lost 6-3 6-2 to Belinda Bencic.
Chris Evans was eliminated from the Montreal Masters this week, and will not be able to prove his old form in the tournament. His fellow Brits, Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie, face off at noon on Wednesday with other matches involving Raducanu’s match against Belarus’ former number one player.
The main strength of Williams’ game is her powerful serve and strong, consistent baseline play. She transitioned from the athlete who dominated tennis to the sporting icon that deserves to be lauded.
The respect for Williams in the locker room has been shown over time, with world number one Iga Swiatek and Raducanu among the WTA players praising her achievements.
Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, watched her hero take on another player at the tournament in a match that isn’t even possible to be born yet. Williams showed a characteristic of many great athletes, namely that time has its own way of showing you up on the stages where you used to be the dominant player.
With Raducanu’s serve and groundstrokes, Williams got knocked out in the first set. There were reports she was physically troubled by an injury during the match but whether it was mental or physical is impossible to tell. She had trouble dealing with the pressure created by Raducanu’s service and groundstrokes.
Now that she has said goodbye to Cincinnati with a smile, Williams must try to regroup at Flushing Meadows. Raducanu shows signs of US Open form: Raducanu had recalled that her first memory of seeing Williams play was when she went to Wimbledon as a seven-year-old.
But equal parts nostalgia and charity was not a winning combination for the Briton. Williams showed there was no room for nostalgia or charity in one of her best performances since her US Open triumph last year..
Raducanu started strong by breaking Williams out of the gates and successfully building momentum. With the encouragement from her enthusiastic home crowd, Raducanu showed she was never intimidated by Williams, even when she was losing.
Raducanu reversed a 4-1 lead in the first set to trail by one, but then came back to reverse the scoreline in the next. This individual performance at WTA level was reminiscent of her form against Williams last year, which is likely her only opportunity before being out of the tour.
Raducanu’s opening set was decisively won by a hold to love and at the end of the second set his Ace seemed to seal victory in a comfortable fashion.