Serena Williams, who hinted this week that she is in the home stage of her storied tennis career, lost to Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the WTA Toronto Masters on Wednesday.
Last year’s Olympic gold medalist in Tokyo, Switzerland’s Bencic, broke the 23-time Grand Slam champion twice in the first set and once in the second to repeat the 2015 semi-final win over Williams in Toronto.
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He needed five set points to pocket the opener, but the second set went more smoothly and won in just over an hour and a quarter in front of a pro-Williams crowd.
Williams, who turns 41 next month, beat Spain’s Nuria Parijas Diaz on Monday for her first singles win since the 2021 French Open 14 months ago.
She revealed in an essay and an Instagram post in Vogue magazine on Tuesday that the “countdown has begun” for her retirement from the sport.
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Williams hasn’t specified an actual retirement date, but is expected to compete in Cincinnati next week before traveling to the US Open, which begins August 29.
She has won the US Open title six times.
Williams was emotional in her on-court remarks to the crowd, saying it was an “interesting” week.
Bencic called the night “special.”
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