Serena shows her power
Bouchard’s loss means no Canadians left in women’s draw
TORONTO Serena Williams stared at the ground, flexed her biceps and yelled.
In case you were wondering, she was angry. Moments earlier, her serve had been broken after her backhand attempt had clipped the net.
Now, the world No. 1 was angry. And for fans and Rogers Cup organizers, it was a good sign.
An angry Williams meant Williams was interested in the match.
It meant that unlike her older sister Venus, she had not just come to Toronto to hit a few balls and then leave, but was actually looking to win her third Rogers Cup.
On Wednesday, she took a step toward that goal with a rather convincing 6-3, 6-2 win against world No. 57 Francesca Schiavone of Italy to advance to the third round of the tournament.
She now faces world No. 13 Kirsten Flipkens, who defeated Venus Williams on Thursday.
“I felt good. I felt solid,” said Williams, who won this tournament in 2001 and 2011. “Obviously, I made a few errors but it’s just my first match on hard (courts) in a really long time. I also played a really good player, so it was a good match.”
In the first set, Schiavone’s topspin forehands and deep backhand slice kept Williams flat-footed and caused her to commit an unusual number of unforced errors.
The 2010 French Open champion broke Williams to go up 3-2 and had a chance to extend that lead. But Williams battled back from 0-40 — thanks to three doublefaults from Schiavone — and broke back to level the set at 3-3.
“At that point, she was playing really well,” Williams said in her televised interview. “We’ve played each other a few times. She’s a great player. She’s a Grand Slam champion so she knows how to win big matches and she knows how to win big points, so I just needed to start focusing a little bit more and do a little bit better.”
And while she was far from perfect, she remains not only the favourite to win in Toronto but also to defend her U.S. Open title at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard might be Canada’s best hope for a women’s tennis star. But it is going to take time to get there.
While the 19-year-old from Westmount, Que., provided a glimpse of things to come by advancing to the second round at this year’s Rogers Cup, she ended up losing 6-3, 6-2 to defending champion Petra Kvitova.
Bouchard, who entered the tournament ranked 62nd in the world, defeated world No. 599 Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets on Tuesday. The following night, she ran up against a much tougher opponent in the seventh-ranked Kvitova.
With Toronto’s Sharon Fichman also losing her second-round match 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) to Jelena Jankovic, there are no more Canadians remaining in the women’s draw.