Emma Raducanu joins the elite list of players who have bagelled Serena Williams

Serena Williams was handed a shocking defeat by the 19-year-old British player Emma Raducanu in the first round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in straight sets 4-6,0-6 where she is a two-time champion. It was another instance of the showcase of poor performance followed by an early exit from the 23-time singles Grand Slam champion since her return at the 2022 Wimbledon Championship after a year of being in action. She also had an early exit at the All England Club in the first round followed by the second round exit at the Canadian Open to Belinda Bencic.

The former World number one shook the world when she dropped the news about her retirement from the tennis world and revealed that she will bid adieu at the US Open in front of her home crowd where he had won her first Grand Slam title in the year 1999. Post her announcement, she is waiting for a win hoping to end her career on a high. She is one of the greatest female athletes of all time and has been revolutionary in popularizing women’s tennis.

Emma Raducanu has been struggling with her consistency since her title win at the US Open in 2021 where she defeated Leylah Fernandez to win her maiden title. She failed to go past the quarter-finals of all the WTA events post Flushing Meadows. She is all set to face Victoria Azarenka in the second round after defeating Serena at Cincinnati. She is looking to have a good run as part of the US Open preparations where she is the defending champion.

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Serena Williams will play her final matches at the US Open in 2022

Serena is in the twilight of her illustrious career with 73 singles titles and a win rate of almost 85% in her career. She has won 27 of her singles titles in the United States making her a dominant force in the hard-court swing. She has won six singles titles, two doubles titles, and a mixed doubles title at Flushing Meadows. In her glorious career which lasted more than two decades, the 40-year-old champion has some instances where she has lost a set in 6-0. The latest instance was at Cincinnati where she lost to the young Brit.

Raducanu joins the list of players who have bagelled Serena over her career. This is the fourth time where Serena was handed a bagel set in a hard-court event. The other instances were at the Indian Wells in 1997 where she was defeated by Alexia Dechaume Balleret followed by another shocking defeat at Miami Open in 2007 by Justine Henin and by Johanna Konta in 2018 at San Jose Championship.

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