Serena Williams Loses To Emma Raducanu In Cincinnati In Final Warm-Up Before U.S. Open

There was a lot of hype and expectation leading up to Serena Williams’ first match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Ever since she announced her impending retirement last week, fans had been looking forward to a first-round matchup between Williams and defending U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Those who bought tickets for Monday’s night session expecting to see the match were disappointed when it was pushed to Tuesday night.

When the match finally came, the 19-year-old Raducanu was the better, quicker and stronger player, dispatching the 23-time Grand Slam champion, 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes in their first meeting. Fans gave Serena a huge round of applause as she quickly walked off the court.

“Well, I think we all need to just honor Serena and her amazing career,” Raducanu, who will play former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka next, said on court.

“I’m so grateful for the experience of being able to play her and for our careers to have crossed over and everything that she has achieved is so inspirational. And yeah, it was a true honor to share the court with her.”

Raducanu hit 14 winners and made just one unforced error while converting 5-of-9 break chances. Serena broke Raducanu just once in the first set.

“The atmosphere tonight was amazing,” Raducanu said. “To play with Serena, even when you guys were cheering for her, I was all for it.

“To be honest, I was nervous from the first point to the last point because I know what a champion she is. She can come back from any situation so I really had to stay focused. I’m just so pleased that I was able to keep my composure.”

With the loss, Serena fell to 1-3 in 2022 after missing a year with a foot injury following last year’s first-round exit at Wimbledon.

“I think it’s hard,” ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez said on air during the match. “I think she expects herself to still play like she did. You’re that good and that dominant.”

She added: “It just wasn’t Serena’s night.”

It was a tough day for big-name women’s players, as Coco Gauff retired with an ankle injury during her match against Marie Bouzkova after trailing 7-5, 1-0.

Zhang Shuai advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who has yet to win a title in 202s.

Venus Williams, 42, also lost earlier Tuesday, 7-5, 6-1 to Karolina Pliskova.

Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic, former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez all lost their first matches as well.

Serena Williams will now have about two weeks off before the start of the U.S. Open on Aug. 29 in what is expected to be her final tournament.

The Open sold 16,500 tickets the day Serena announced her retirement, and she will be honored by huge crowds and legendary players during her time in New York. John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal have already paid tribute to Williams, with McEnroe comparing her to Michael Jordan and Tom Brady.

Williams has said she wants to focus on growing her family, and is also expected to pursue other interests as well.

“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” Willams wrote in Vogue. “I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.”