Serena Williams Advances After First U.S. Open Win in 2 years

Serena Williams headed to Flushing Meadows to play her first U.S.Open in two years – she needed only seventy minutes to defeat Poland’s Magda Linette in two straight sets at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night.

Williams only let down was being unable to say goodbye to her daughter before having to leave. Speaking during on-court interviews, Serena said it broke her spirit to not have that moment with her daughter who is due to celebrate her first birthday on Saturday.

Williams has won the championship at the U.S. Open six times but was unable to play last year as she was giving birth to her daughter. At 37, Williams is in the midst of a comeback after taking a year off to raise her daughter.

Serena made quick work of the less skilled Linette hitting six aces and winning each of the eight service games. The U.S. Open holds a special place in William’s heart who stated that it felt good to be back. She added that,

“The first set was tight. It was my first back here in New York, so that wasn’t the easiest. Once I got settled, I started doing what I’m trying to do in practice.”

Williams has been in a slump since returning to tennis and has suffered three losses in the last four she has played. This is not something the celebrated Williams is used to, especially being one of those losses was against Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon.

US Open

Serena is trying to win her twenty-fourth Grand Slam on her return to professional tennis. Commenting on her progress, Williams said,

“I think I’m getting there. I’ve been feeling really good in practice and I’m training so hard.”

She certainly looked that way as she served 114 mph aces. Currently, 17th seeded in the world, Williams will now face Carina Witthoeft and if successful, could find herself playing her sister Venus. Her sister is seeded 16th and advanced after her three-set victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Monday.

In other U.S. Open action, Canadian Denis Shapovalov will move on to the second round after Felix Auger-Aliassime retired from their first-round match due to heart palpitations in the third set. Auger-Aliassime was immediately seen by on-site medical staff who found his heart was beating too fast.

Auger-Aliassime, who hails from Montreal, attempted to return but after three games, chose to retire from the match. A sympathetic Shapovalov met him at the end of the match, and while the win goes to Shapovalov, it seemed like both players were struggling to be consistent when serving.

Shapovalov scored four aces compared to Auger-Aliassime’s three. He had nine faults and was only 55% on first serves, Auger-Aliassime was 53% and also had nine faults. Shapovalov will next face off against Italy’s Andreas Seppi of Italy in the second round.

At 19, Shapovalov is the youngest player in the top 100 ranked ATP players. Auger-Aliassime is the youngest player in the top 200 ranked ATP players, and that made their match the youngest combined ages since Donald Young was defeated by Novak Djokovic, who were 17 and 19 respectively. Interested in betting on the U.S. Open, why not check out our list of recommended Canadian friendly tennis sports betting sites. There are some great sign-up offers for new punters ready to join the action of the WTP.