Rogers Cup—Toronto, Canada
Canadian upstart Bianca Andreescu captured her second title of the season and first Rogers Cup on Sunday at the campus of York University after her opponent Serena Williams was forced to retire with a back injury trailing 3-1 in the first set.
Needing only 19 minutes to claim her crown, Andreescu withstood two aces from the American before the match was over. Williams, who was misfiring on forehands early on, never looked comfortable from the onset of the match.
Defeating new World No. 1 Naomi Osaka earlier in the week, Williams will now take rest before competing at the US Open later this month.
Andreescu, who has also had a season riddled with injuries, defeated Genie Bouchard, Karolina Pliskova and Kiki Bertens earlier in the event. The 18-year-old will hit a new career-high of No. 14 in the world when Monday’s rankings are released.
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Rogers Cup—Montreal, Canada
On the men’s side, top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal staved off the powerful game of Russian Danill Medvedev to claim his fifth career title in Canada 6-3, 6-0.
Receiving a walkover in the semifinals over Gael Monfils, Nadal looked the fresher of the two during the beginning stages of the encounter. Needing one hour and 10 minutes to win the event, Nadal won 82 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on four occasions.
Claiming his record-leading 35th Masters 1000 title, Nadal will hold onto his No. 2 ranking heading into next week’s event in Cincinnati.
Winning the Roma Masters and this 12th French Open title earlier this season, Nadal now owns 83 career titles.
Medvedev, who has had a remarkable season, reached his fifth career title and fourth in 2019. The 23-year-old captured the title in Sofia, Bulgaria in February, and lost in the finals of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. to Nick Kyrgios last Sunday.