The 40- time-old Williams fell to 0- 2 in matches since publicizing “ the preamble has begun ” on her career, losing 6- 4, 6- 0toU.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu in the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday night.
Williams said last week in a Vogue magazine essay and an Instagram post that her career was winding down,althoughshedidnotexplicitlysaytheU.S. Open, which beginsAug. 29 in New York, would be her last event.
Open tuneup for Williams, and the coming time she takes the court will be at Flushing Meadows. She lost to Belinda Bencic in straight sets last week in Toronto. A day before the advertisement, Williams beat Nuria Parrizas- Diaz for her first match palm since the 2021 French Open.
Williams is a 23- time Grand Slam champion, utmost lately in 2017 at the Australian Open, when she was pregnant with son Olympia. She said wanting to expand her family was a big reason she plans to step down.
Raducanu, rankedNo. 19 in the world, was sharp as she dispatched Williams — and quieted the vocallypro- Williams crowd — in 1 hour, 5 beats.
“ I ca n’t believe I just played Serena Williams, ” the 19- time-old Raducanu said. “ It’s commodity that I suppose I ’m really fortunate to have been suitable to do, and for our careers to have crossed when there’s such a big( age) gap and watching her growing up, it was an amazing experience to just play her. ”
Williams didn’t speak to intelligencers after the match.
suckers cheered happily when Williams was introduced, and again when she won her first point on a Raducanu error in the alternate game. Williams yelled in frustration when she twice- blamed and screamed indeed louder and pumped her fist when she won the third game of the first set.
“ I just knew how important every single point was because you let up a little bit, yeah, she’s going to be each over you, ” Raducanu said. “ She’s just such a legend. ”
Down 2- 0 in the first set, she fought back within 4- 3 and also 5- 4, but Raducanu closed out the set at love. Raducanu rolled from there, with Williams looking frustrated and indeed abnegated near the end.
Williams was sidelined for a time by a torn hamstring suffered last time at Wimbledon, and her late- career injuries have contributed to inconsistency on the court.
The players excited the crowd with an instigative rally in the fifth game of the alternate set, won by Williams with a forehand blitz. But she twice- blamed on the coming point on the way to being broken.
She hastily left the court after the match, signaling to the crowd as she exited.
“ I suppose that the crowd was enough electric, ” Raducanu said. “ The colosseum was really packed, and indeed if they were cheering for Serena. I was prepared for that. ”
Raducanu, who faces expert Victoria Azarenka in Wednesday’s alternate round, has not won a title since her out- of-nowheretriumphattheU.S. Open last time.
In the men’s draw, top- ranked Daniil Medvedev of Russia advanced to the third round, beating 24th- ranked Botic van de Zandschlup 6- 4, 7- 5.
Medvedev, banned by Wimbledon for his country’s irruption of Ukraine, was coming off a alternate-round loss to Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios last week in Canada.
Kyrgios beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7- 5, 6- 4 on Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, four- time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka was barred by Shuai Zhang, 6- 4, 7- 5.
The event lost another big name, Coco Gauff, when she retired from her match against qualifier Marie Bouzkova with a left ankle injury. Gauff had her ankle taped after the first set and dropped out after the first game of the alternate set.
Karolina Pliskova advanced with a 7- 5, 6- 1 palm over Williams ’ progressed family, Venus. Bencic fell to Sorana Cirstea, 6- 2, 6- 7( 3), 6- 4.
Rafael Nadal, sidelined since withdrawing from Wimbledon with an abdominal gash, rehearsed before a large crowd. The 22- time Grand Slam champion is listed to play Borna Corcic on Wednesday.
