Venus Williams fought hard to claw back from 4-1 down in the first set, but her comeback effort fell short as she lost 4-6, 4-6 to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the opening round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Thursday.
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro Overcomes Venus Williams In Straight Sets
The seven-time Grand Slam champion, now 45, was playing just her second tournament in three weeks after making her WTA Tour return in Washington in her first event in 16 months. In Washington, she won her first-round match before falling to Magdalena Frech in straight sets.
“I had so much fun out there, and there were definitely moments where I had a lot of chances,” Williams said after the match. “I thought she played super well. I have to definitely give her a lot of credit.”
“It’s hard for me to be upset,” she added. “I know that I lost this match because I just, I need more matches.”
“I could have played better. But the thing I feel good about is that I did go for it. It’s not that I didn’t know what to do. It’s just that I need to keep working on it.”
Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 51st, soaked in the occasion of facing one of the sport’s greats on the opening day of the last big warm-up before the US Open begins on August 25.
“It was not easy at all,” the Spaniard admitted. “She’s a legend, it was a privilege to play against her.”
The 22-year-old described her 87-minute victory as “like a dream.”
“I never thought that I would ever play Venus,” she said. “I was just lucky with that. I tried to have a lot of intensity, but I had no rhythm. She hits so hard. I tried to focus. I had to be positive to win the points.”
A Look Back At Venus Williams’ Cincinnati Open History
This was Williams’ 11th appearance in Cincinnati. She reached the semi-finals back in 2012, and in her last outing here in 2023, she lost in the second round to Zheng Qinwen of China.
Williams revealed this week that after undergoing surgery last year to remove uterine fibroids, which was a serious health scare, she is embracing her return to competition.
“I’m in a completely different space and I have a clean bill of health, thank God,” she said.
In other action from the ATP Masters 1000 draw, Brazil’s Joao Fonseca fought past China’s Bu Yunchaokete 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. The young Brazilian overcame 18 unforced errors to snap a three-match losing streak at Masters 1000 events.
“I was struggling a lot, missing a lot of shots, not feeling my best today,” Fonseca admitted. “I was staying in the game, believing that I would find the opportunity, and I got it. I’m very happy with how I believed.”
Belgium’s Zizou Bergs breezed past Britain’s Jakob Fearnley 6-1, 6-4, while Frenchmen Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech also advanced with wins.
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