Serena Williams Wins First Match Since Wimbledon, Osaka Through
8th August 2019
The 37-year-old American, one crown shy of a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, advanced in 75 minutes at her first US Open hardcourt tuneup event
- Serena Williams looked solid in her first match since losing the Wimbledon final, defeating 20th-ranked Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday at the WTA Toronto tournament
- Also moving into the third round was Japan's Naomi Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion. She won after taking the first set 6-2 when Germany's Tatjana Maria retired with a left abdominal injury
- Williams, ranked 10th, seeks her fourth WTA Canada crown after 2001, 2011 and 2013 and improved her match record at the event to 31-4, winning half the 10 break points she earned against Mertens
TORONTO, Canada- Serena Williams looked solid in her first match since losing the
Wimbledon final, defeating 20th-ranked Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 on
Wednesday at the WTA Toronto tournament.
The 37-year-old
American, one crown shy of a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title,
advanced in 75 minutes at her first US Open hardcourt tuneup event.
"I feel like my
movement is great -- been working on my fitness, so I felt like it really was
able to shine through today," Williams said.
"I'm loving
going out there and I'm loving kind of running. So it's a good thing."
Also moving into the
third round was Japan's Naomi Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open
champion. She won after taking the first set 6-2 when Germany's Tatjana Maria
retired with a left abdominal injury.
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With Osaka's
triumph, Australian Ashleigh Barty was ensured of being dethroned next week as
world number one, although it could be Czech Kristyna Pliskova instead of Osaka
who swipes the top spot.
Williams, ranked
10th, seeks her fourth WTA Canada crown after 2001, 2011 and 2013 and improved
her match record at the event to 31-4, winning half the 10 break points she
earned against Mertens.
"Now that I'm
just injury-free, I'm just enjoying being able to train, and I haven't been
able to do it since January, really," Williams said.
"So I just
think that the fact that I can train and practice and get in the gym is really
going to be helpful for me."
Mertens broke for a
2-1 lead but Williams answered in the sixth game to pull level at 3-3.
"I know when I
got down one break I got real negative," Williams said. "I don't
know what happened on the first time I got down. (She) just played really well.
She's obviously a really good player. I just needed to just double down and get
more focused."
Next in the path of
the former world number one will be Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova,
who eliminated China's Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.
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Osaka had not played
a match since losing to Yulia Putintseva in the first round at Wimbledon.
"I thought I
played really well despite the fact that we only played one set," Osaka
said. "I was able to do what I wanted, which was go for the shots that I
had the opportunity to.
"And, of
course, there were a couple unforced errors, but I think that's part of the
process.
"For me, I'm
just happy that it was my first match in a while and I was able to get in the
groove of things quickly."
The victory gives
Osaka the inside track on taking the top spot in Monday's new rankings.