Bencic shocks Serena to reach Toronto final; Djokovic, Murray to clash for

The winner of the first three Grand Slam events of the season, Williams is preparing for the U.S. Open. Williams did note that she had injured her hand during her quarterfinal showing against Roberta Vinci but insisted that it was nothing more than sprained fingers that are “really sore”.

“It’s for sure a step in the right direction”, Bouchard told reporters. Sometimes I didn’t want to and sometimes you feel very motivated.

She debuted with some difficulty, but Serena Williams ended the match with the usual victory, in the WTA tournament in Toronto recovering from a one set deficit to beat Flavia Pennetta.

Few athletes have the commanding presence that Williams possesses on the court.

But in the second it was more of the same, and then Serena’s serve really started breaking down (she finished with 12 double faults).

Up or down, hardly ever the latter, Williams remains an unstoppable – if, yes, beatable – force who still defies time and injury and wear, un-waning. The veteran Italian tried to slow the pace by working in regular backhand cut shots that forced Williams off the baseline.

The other big upset on the day came from the racquet of 34-year old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia, who beat 10 seed Karolina Pliskova 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.

Bencic is the youngest player to beat Williams in a complete match since the American lost to a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova in the final of Wimbledon in 2004. She was broken back by the free-swinging Halep, and the Romanian took the subsequent tie-break. Bencic, to her credit, wouldn’t allow it.

“I just really didn’t play up to par today – what a professional tennis player should play like”, she said.

The 23-year-old Romanian figured she needed “a miracle to finish the match”, and played as long as she could for the dozens of people waving her country’s flag.

10sBalls Top Stories In Case You Missed It Please find below the links to the draws, results and order of play for the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank events in Toronto and Montreal. Henderson, 17, is trying to join Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson as the only players to win an LPGA Tour title before turning 18.

Top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Hao-Chang Chan and Yung-Jan Chan of Taiwan.

After waiting out a lengthy rain delay, Germany’s Sabine Lisicki defeated Williams 6-0, 6-3 Monday night in their first-round match at Aviva Centre.

Notes: Toronto rapper Drake was in attendance….

Notes: Former WTA star Justine Henin – a two-time Rogers Cup champion – was inducted in the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame on Saturday evening…. Bencic’s forehand moved too quick tying the tiebreaker but when she picked up a chance on set point, Bencic watched as Halep made a last ditch effort for the return only to see it land into the net giving the teen a huge hold on the title. But as always the case, one can never count Serena Williams out in any match, as she was on the verge of producing another of her many comebacks.