Serena Williams won her first match in 430 days on Monday defeating Nuria Párrizas Díaz 6-3, 6-4 while another former number one, Romanian Simona Halep, easily disposed of Croatian Donna Vekic 6-0 and 6-2.
Both Párrizas Díaz and Vekic were replaced by the Canadian tournament after their withdrawal from the previous one. The two tennis players earned two spots as lucky losers due to the withdrawals of American Shelby Rogers and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
It was the first time in her career that Párrizas Díaz, 31, faced Williams, the winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles and played the entire match with a plaster covering most of her cheek to help her fight sinusitis. .
Williamsa three-time winner of the tournament in Canada where he appeared 10 times, counts in his favor all-time in the center court public of Sobeys stadium in Toronto focuses on the 40-year-old tennis player who has just returned to competition after an absence of more than 12 months.
Parrizasranked number 59 in the WTA compared to 407 currently occupied by Williams, struggled to respond to powerful, but irregular, American service. But the Spaniard forced Williams to win every point in a match that lasted nearly two hours.
In the eighth game of the second set, with Williams serving, Párrizas Díaz forced nine deuces and had four chances to take the game. But Williams fought back.
Following her victory, Williams said she just wanted to play her best. and he is very happy to play in Toronto.
“I don’t know if I can play here anymoreWilliams explained that she won her last singles match at the French Open in 2021.
With Párrizas’ loss there are four Spaniards left in the tournament: Paula Badosa, Garbiñe Muguruza, Sara Sorribes Tormo and Cristina Bucsa.
Even worse than Serena was Venus Williams, who was overtaken by Swiss Jill Teichmann (6-2, 6-3) in the match that closed the day on center court.
before, Simona Halep easily defeated Croatian Donna Vekic in just 61 minutes by 6-0 and 6-2.
Halep made only eight unforced errors, half of which were double faults.
Halep, who won the Canadian tournament in 201 and 2018, will face the winner of the match between Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and China’s Shuai Zhang in the next round.
In other matches of a day marked by delays due to rain, the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia beats Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-2, 2-6, 6-2and Kazakh Elena Rybakina defeated Czech Marie Bouzková 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1.
the czech too Karolina Plisková defeated her compatriot Barbora Krejciková 6-3, 6-4 while Latvian Jelena Ostapenko defeated Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-2.
The duel between French Alizé Cornet and Caroline Garcia was resolved in favor of the former by 3-6, 6-3 and 6-3. the American Asia Muhammad defeated her compatriot Madison Keys of 7-6(5) and 6-4.
Another rivalry between Americans, that of Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin came out on top in three sets 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5.
Meanwhile, the American Alison Riske-Amritraj beats Czech Petra Kvitová 6-2, 4-6, 6-3Kazakh Yulia Putintseva defeated Canadian Katherine Sebov 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, and fellow Canadian Leyla Annie Fernández defeated Australian Storm Sanders 6-4, 6-7(2), 6- 3.
On Tuesday, Sorribes Tormo will face American Claire Liu and Bucsa to Shuai Zhang.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
