Serena Williams

Serena Williams began tentatively, losing three of the first four points. But she smashed two aces to get even and took the opening game when a Kovinic forehand found the net. The legendary player moved remarkably compared to her stints in Toronto and Cincinnati earlier this month.

The William sisters are two-time champions at the U.S Open and will pair for the first time since 2018 Roland Garros. In addition to their 14 major doubles titles, the last of which came at 2016 Wimbledon, Serena and Venus have teamed to win three Olympic gold medals in doubles, winning in 2000, 2008, and 2012.

Already a superstar in the making at 16, Serena Williams has been the talk of tennis ever since and will be celebrated as such at Flushing Meadows as she marks the end of one of the great sporting careers, reports DPA. A few weeks short of her 41st birthday and keen to focus on trying to have a second child, Williams has decided, reluctantly, that now is the time to hang up her racquet.

Earlier this month, Williams announced her impending retirement after the U.S Open. A champion in New York six times, she will face No.80 Kovinic for the first time. Danka Kovinic reached a career-high ranking of No.46 in 2016 and became the first woman from her country to win a WTA Tour title last year at Charleston.

Serena Williams has won 23 major singles titles, while also adding 14 doubles championships in a brilliant career, but will be hanging up her racquet after she plays in the tournament she has won six times, reports DPA. Williams also outlined her plans for the future, adding: "I really want to expand my family, and you know I've been putting it off for so long.

Playing her first match since her essay in Vogue detailing the decision behind her impending retirement, Williams was greeted by a rapturous ovation from the Toronto crowd as she took to the court. Williams was bidding to win her first back-to-back singles matches since 2021 Roland Garros, having won her Toronto opener in straight sets over Nuria Parrizas Diaz. But in a rematch of their memorable semifinal duel on this very court in 2015, Bencic was able to control the match from start to finish with her serve. The 25-year-old from Switzerland faced just one break point in the match, which she saved.

Writing for Vogue, the American said she is moving towards "other things that are important to me", adding she does not like the word "retirement". Williams made her singles return at Wimbledon in June after a lengthy injury lay-off that had led to speculation about her retirement. She registered her first singles win in 14 months, beating Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz to reach the second round of the National Bank Open in Toronto on Monday.