Venus Williams gives a valiant fight but Bouzas Maneiro advances in Cincinnati Open

Venus Williams said an early goodbye to the Cincinnati Open after falling to Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4, 6-4. The former world No. 1 put up a good fight against one of the sensations of the Canadian Open, the Spaniard who reached her first WTA 1000 quarterfinals just a few days ago.

In front of a full stadium ready to see the 45-year-old legend once again, Williams gave a more than dignified battle, but it was not enough for her to advance. The world No. 643 says goodbye to the tournament in the first round but still has her next commitment scheduled for the US Open mixed doubles, where she received a wildcard to play alongside Reilly Opelka.

Bouzas Maneiro entered with motivation for a match in which she knew the crowd would be completely in favor of her opponent. The Spaniard took advantage of the warm-up at the beginning of the match and got an early break, then went up 2-0 on her serve. Williams was quickly at a disadvantage but managed to defend her next service game to stay slightly behind.

The Spaniard looked confident with her serve, winning her service games without problems and taking advantage of Williams' first-serve struggles to put her in trouble. Bouzas Maneiro got a double break in the fifth game and took a 4-1 lead with her serve. It was then that Williams reacted, taking advantage of the pressure on her opponent and a drop in her first serves to get two consecutive breaks—and, by saving a break point against her, she managed to tie the set at 4-4.

However, she could not take her opportunities at the end of the set, as the Spaniard responded with a break to go up 5-4 and serve for the set. Venus had a chance to break again to level it, but the world No. 51 got ahead with a few consecutive points and closed out the set 6-4.

The start of the second set was similar to the first, as Bouzas Maneiro got an opening break and then went up 2-0 with her serve. Williams once again had to come back from a break behind, though this time she quickly leveled at 2-2. The Spaniard was below 40% on her first serve, showing the pressure she felt from the crowd, and the local player recovered to level the score at 2-2. Then came crossed breaks—both taking advantage of their first opportunity—raising the tension in the match when Williams managed to come back from a break down again to make the score 3-3.

Amid doubts from both players on serve, everything was tied up again at 4-4, just like in the first set. It was there that Bouzas Maneiro got the break that would be definitive for the victory. After going up 5-4, this time she maintained her concentration on her serve and closed out a hard-fought victory with a score of 6-4, 6-4, advancing to the second round of the Cincinnati Open.

Bouzas Maneiro remains in a state of inspiration, having now achieved her eighth victory in her last 10 matches. The Spaniard fell at the Canadian Open just a couple of days ago to tournament sensation Victoria Mboko but left with a significant boost in her ranking.

With her win against Williams, she advances to No. 41 in the live rankings and will have her next rival in the 21st seed, Leylah Fernandez, who won her first WTA 500 title at the DC Open just two weeks ago and had a good rest after a first-round loss in Montreal.