Serena Williams loses to Bencic in Toronto following retirement announcement
WTA
Serena Williams played her first match since announcing her retirement, but she lost in two sets to Belinda Bencic at the 2022 Canadian Open in Toronto.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion will do her best to fight for her 24th Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open, but it seems that it may be a very difficult task for Serena Williams.
She defeated Nuria Parrizas-Diaz in her first match at the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto, but the twelfth-seeded Belinda Bencic proved to be too strong for her. Unusually, nerves may also have played a role for the legendary American, as she announced her retirement before this match.
Williams is trying to get to her top form before the 2022 US Open, and she signed up for WTA 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati to do that. After losing to Harmony Tan at Wimbledon, she achieved her first win of the season against Nuria Parrizas-Diaz, but her second match was less successful.
It was the first match that Serena played since announcing her retirement, but her opponent was just better. Neither Bencic nor Williams played their best tennis and despite the American showing some good signs, the match ended already in two sets.
Bencic won the first set easily, 6-2, after breaking her opponent twice. Williams faced break points in each one of her service games, which is something she's certainly not used to.
In the second set, Williams seemed much more solid, but she lost her serve in the seventh game, so she eventually lost the match 2-6, 4-6, as she couldn't create any break point chances in the second set.
During her on-court interview after the match, Williams addressed the crowd in Toronto, as it was her last professional appearance in Canada.
"I love playing here, I always loved playing here. I wish I could have played better but Belinda played so good today."
