The lower half of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open Draw was completed on Friday and British no. 3, Sonay Kartal, was in action against former Cincy champion, Caroline Garcia, who announced her in the event of Roland Garros earlier in the year.
I don’t want to play tennis just to play tennis. I have been at the top and I know what it takes to come back there, but I no longer have the power, or perhaps the motivation, to do it more … And that is okay, at some point you have to follow a different path and open a new chapter. Hopefully this new chapter will bring more joy and light for my life. Caroline Garcia
Garcia won the tournament as a qualification in 2022, rode that momentum in her first Grand Slam-Halve Final during the US Open of the following month and ended the year by lifting the trophy on the WTA final.
It cost the French former World No 4, which received a wildcard in the most important draw of this year, 2 hours and 36 minutes to take her a way along Kartal, 5-7 6-4 6-3.
Ranked 48, Kartal returned after a month off after her excellent run to the 4th round in Wimbledon, and she fired 3 aces in the first set, which indicates a good intention.
However, Garcia had made a lightning device, causing the lack of hair on the field in May in May the lack of hair on the field in May, during which time she married.
The talented French woman produced breathtaking, Swash-Buckling-Volleys that she succeeded in full rack to subtly just cut the net, which, in combination with her impressive power, initially left Kartal with little answer.
However, Garcia also missed by meters just when she looked on top of the game, 3-0, 40-0 in the first set, and Wild Oscilled between Miscues and winners, who offered Kartal an opening.
After losing the first set, Garcia then led 5-2 in the second set, before he needed 4 set points to cross the line and to level the match.
Finally, the French woman seized control with a relatively uncomplicated decision maker and will then be confronted with the number 11 seed and 2023 Second, Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic, whom she defeated 6-7 (3) 7-5 6-4 in their only earlier meeting in Doha in 2023.
One day that fellow winner Townsend would later describe as ‘Hot As Hell’, Garcia admitted in her interview on on-Court that she had wondered what she was doing there.
“That was going in my head for a few minutes,” she said. “It was so hot, so hard there, I didn’t play many matches in recent months.
“At the end of the first set I was exhausted. I felt that I made my chance disappear, and it was a long way to the end of the game. But for some reason I received a lot of support from my team, and the people here, and I wanted to try to the end.”
British No 3 Sonay Kartal won the first set against Caroline Garcia before he sweared in Cincy after 2 hours and 26 minutes on day 2
© Dylan Buell/Getty images
Asked for her awaiting retirement, Garcia replied: “To this day there are still people who don’t understand, people who tell me:” Oh, but you’re very young. “That is true, but it is also true that I have been here for a long time.
“I have had several ups and downs, went through difficult times, both in terms of level and results, even a lot in my personal life, which was the most difficult.
“I don’t want to play tennis just to play tennis. I have been to the top and I know what it takes to come back there, but I no longer have the power, or perhaps the motivation, to do it … And at some point you have to take a different path and open a new chapter. Hopefully this new chapter will bring more joy and light in my life.”
She married Borja Durán in a beautiful ceremony at the end of July and celebrated the most beautiful day of their lives, as she describes it.
“It was an unforgettable day, very special, of course,” she said. “It was even better than we had thought in our own dreams, everything turned out to be the way we wanted, we were very happy that we had so many friends and family on our side to celebrate such a special day for us.
“It is common to hear couples say that it is a very special day, but it is real! We have held that excitement for the next two days, which constantly remember a few moments.”
Garcia has received a wildcard for this month’s US Open, which will be the last tournament of her career.
Both Montreal champion Victoria Mboko and second place Naomi Osaka have withdrawn from Cincinnati
© Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
The 1st round of the upper half of the Cincy Draw was also completed on Friday, with victories by Taylor Townsend, Lulu Sun and Leolia Jeietean, after news on Thursday that both Victoria Mboko and Naomi Osaka withdrew after their exploitation in Montreal.
Mboko, the Canadian Open Champion, mentioned the left -hand injury she sustained during her remarkable run as a wildcard for her first title at tour level, while Osaka signaled a change of schedule.
“I’m going to take care of my wrist,” Mboko told Wtatennis.com. “Just do some prevention and recovery and prepare for what is going to come.”
Both Mboko and Osaka were not sown in Cincinnati and received performance in the 2nd round because of the reaching of the Montreal final.
A special situation arose because of the WTA Performance bye protocol, in which two 1st-round matches were made with the top 4 signed lucky losers of Cincinnati qualification, with Spain Cristina Bucsa and Yuan Yue from Spain by China that Mboko and her performance replaced in the Draw, while van draw, while van Draw, while van Draw, while van Draw, while the Draw, and Jovic of the Draw, and Jovic of Draw, and Jovic and Jovic and Jovic, and Jovic and Jovic, and Jovic and Jovic, and Jovic and Jovic, and the Draw, while van Draw, while van draw, Replace the USA and its performance of the USA and its performance.
On Friday, Yuan Vast Bucsa, 6-2 6-2, and the next one will be confronted with no. 14 Seed Diana Shnaider from Russia, while Jovic was a 6-3 7-6 (4) winner over Sierra in the night session and was not a 20 sperm Linda Noskova in round 2.
Wild-Card Taylor Townsend improved to 3-1 against Danielle Collins, after he came out of a break in the second set to win their Cincyopener in hot, damp conditions
© Dylan Buell/Getty images
Despite the rising temperatures and humidity, 2 early games passed the 3-hour marking, with the French qualification Jearinan falling for 3 hours and 5 minutes to record the first completed hard-court victory of her career, from 0-3 in the decision-maker to Juliia Starodubta from Ukraine.
In the meantime, the Italian Lucia Bronzetti has saved a match point in the third set of Tiebreak to Triumph in the second longest WTA Main-Draw competition of 2025 so far, which Zhu Lin from China, 6-7 (6) 6-2 7-6 (6) overcame in 3 hours and 27 minutes.
On 6/6 in the decisive tiebreak, the Italian delivered a spectacular Forehand Down-Line winner to end a 19-stroke long-bearer of a rally.
Wild-Card Townsend, however, caused things in much less time and needs an hour and 39 minutes to pass Danielle Collins, 6-4 7-6 (2), and improved to 3-1 general against her fellow American after a demolition in the second set.
On other day 2 results, Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic brought her head-to-head with Anna Bondar from Hungary in one victory each with a 7-6 (0) 6-4 victory to view the 18th Seed Clara Tauson from Denmark; While fresh from the last 16 reached in Montreal, Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia, continued its back of an ACL injury with a 3-set victory over the American qualifying emina Bektas, 6-4 6-7 (6) 6-1; Wang Xinyu from China has disabled Colombia’s Emiliana Arango, 7-6 (1) 6-3, to set up a 2nd placed Coco Gauff; But another Colombian, Camila Osorio, was a 7-5 1-6 6-4 winner about the Japanese Moyuka Uchijima.
Two-time Grand SLAM champion Barbora Krejcíkova Overstrof Alycia Parks in 3 sets on day 2 of the Cincinnati Open in the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio
© Dylan Buell/Getty images
Also up to and including round 2, 2-way Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova, who survived the American Alycia Parks, 6-4 4-6 6-0, and then compete against Elina Svitolina, the 10th seed from Ukraine; While Maria Sakkari in Greece passed the Russian qualifying match Kamilla Rakhimova, 6-3 3-6 6-2, to put the Italian of the 7th placed Italian, Jasmine Paolini in line; Veronika Kudermetova, another Russian, the Dutch wife did Suzan Lamens, 6-1 6-3; And Slovakia Rebecca Sramkova ran past the American Caroline Dolehide, 1-6 6-4 7-6 (1).
Three qualifications also progressed: Ella Siegel from Germany, who defeated Polina Kudermetova from Russia, 1-6 6-3 6-2, and the following will be confronted with World 1 Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus; Varvara Gracheva from France relaxed past the American Wildcard Katie Volynets, 6-4 3-6 6-3; and Viktorija Tomova, Bulgaria, was a 6-4 7-5 winner against another American, Ann Li.
Other winners were Caty Mc Nally, after the American Wildcard defeated the Australian qualifying match Maddison Ingles, 6-2 6-3; And another Aussie, Kimberly Birrell, was a 6-2 6-1 winner about the Russian Anna Blinkova.
The big guns come out on Saturday when the placed players are in action in Cincy for the first time in the upper half of the draw, including British No. 1 Emma Raducanu, who is no. 30 seeds, and on Thursday against Serbia’s Olga Danilovic, Katie Boulter’s Conqueror, takes on.
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