Venus Williams loses to Canadian Marino in return to singles play

Pegula beat fellow American Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 6-2. Halep defeated Cristina Bucsa of Spain 6-3, 7-5 after adjusting to a different surface following grass-court season.

“I had a good run in Wimbledon, so it’s always tough to start,” Halep said. “But I’m really happy I won the match and I can play another match here.”

On the men’s side, former No. 1 Andy Murray lost his opening match 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-1 to Swede Mikael Ymer. Murray started cramping at the end of the first set and struggled to recover.

“It was disappointing, obviously,” Murray said.” I thought there was some good tennis in the first set. After that, both of us were struggling a bit physically. The level of the tennis was not great.”

Countryman Kyle Edmund defeated qualifier Yosuke Watanuki 6-4, 7-6(8) to win his first ATP Tour-level singles match since October 2020.

Edmund, who was once the top-ranked Brit and climbed as high as 14th in the world, was out while recovering from three knee surgeries.

During his rehab, Edmund pictured himself back on the court in moments like this.

“There was long periods where I was just out, couldn’t play, didn’t pick a racket up. … It just wasn’t fun at all,” he said. “These sort of matches or these events are something you imagine when you’re out.”

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The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Venus Williams loses to Canadian Marino in return to singles play

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