Wednesday, August 10, 2022. 8:49 PM
TORONTO – A few hours after announcing her imminent retirement, American Serena Williams was eliminated in the second round of the National Bank Open.
The American legend suffered the straight-set loss 6-2, 6-4 to 12th seed Belinda Bencic.
Champion of 23 prestigious tournaments, Williams was in her last appearance at the Canadian event. She plans to retire later this year, sometime after the US Open.
She received three standing ovations before the duel against Bencic, which was sold out. The 12,500 Canadian fans heavily favored Williams.
Serena bows out in the 2nd round for her last Omnium BN
“I could have played better, but Belinda was very good. But 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.
Bencic, the 12th seed, said after the game that she was always honored to play against Williams and that Wednesday night belongs entirely to the American.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek made short work of Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. The Pole won 6-1, 6-2 in 64 minutes of play in the second round.
This is an 18th consecutive victory for Swiatek on hard courts. She is trying to win a 5th Masters 1000 tournament in as many appearances this season.
Swiatek will now face Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia in the next round, falling to Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
For her part, Italy’s Camila Giorgi continued her title defense beating Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5.
Giorgi, who triumphed in Montreal in 2021, needed 92 minutes to defeat her rival ranked 37th in the world.
Mertens was opportunistic, taking advantage of each of the three break points she got. However, she was the victim of five breaks of service during the game.
Currently ranked 29th in the world, Giorgi will face the winner of the duel between Americans Jessica Pegula, seventh seed, and Asia Muhammad in the next round.
Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, seeded second, was dismissed 6-4, 6-4 by Jill Teichmann, 21st in the world.
Teichmann’s next rival will be Simona Halep, the 15th seed and winner of two major tournaments.
It’s also the end in Toronto for Ons Jabeur, the fifth seed and runner-up at Wimbledon this year. She retired with China’s Qinwen Zheng leading 6-1, 2-1.
In other matches earlier in the day, American Coco Gauff struggled for 2 hours 49 minutes before beating Kazakh Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3).
Both players multiplied powerful shots, but Rybakina was ultimately handicapped by a low first-serve rate of 45.5%.
Czech Karolina Pliskova, seeded 14, was more effective than Gauff, knocking out American Amanda Anisimova 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes. Pliskova lost in the final to Giorgi last year.