England’s Emma Raducanu collected a memorable win in the opening round of the Western & Southern Open, defeating Serena Williams 6-4, 6-0 in the pair’s first-ever meeting. In what could end up being the second-last tournament of Williams’ career, after confirming she will retire after the U.S. Open beginning later this month, the 40- year-old showed fight early on against the 19-year-old world number 11 on Tuesday, reports DPA. After getting 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.
The second set was domination, as Williams was only able to win 35 percent (seven of 20) of her service points, and 20 percent (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 medalist Belinda Bencic was upset 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 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- 2), 7-5, earning a second-round matchup against world number seven Aryna Sabalenka.
