My friend lived closer to York University than my old apartment so I got a day session ticket on Tuesday to see some WTA tennis at the Canadian Open. The Jane St. Express was surprisingly fast at less than 20 minutes to get to Shoreham, but only 4 minutes faster than the regular bus that I skipped. Unfortunately, the trip back at the start of the afternoon rush-hour took nearly 1 hour.
I saw 1 full match and a bit of 2 other games. They all involved up-and-coming tennis players. On the grandstand court, 17-year-old Coco Gauff dominated the 1st set against 32-year-old Madison Brengle. I don't play but I recently saw a how-to-serve video by Venus Williams. In contrast, Brengle had an obvious "open racket face" serve that didn't generate much speed. I'm surprised she hasn't fixed it with coaching. Gauff's more typical serve was higher at around 180-195 kph and she followed that with blistering shots. The 2nd set was closer but it was really Gauff to lose. Once she broke Brengle, it was game over.
I got inside the main court to watch the final set between Rebecca Marino (31) and Qinweng Zheng (19). It was more competitive and tightly contested. Most people cheered for the Canadian Marino but she couldn't pull through. Given that she won the first set and was up 3 points in the second set's tie-breaker, she will likely regret losing this opportunity.
The second match had Camila Giorgi (30) up against Emma Raducanu (19). It was a hard-fought first set though neither player could hold serve. The tie-break was a lop-sided win for Giorgi. I didn't stay for the full match but the veteran (and defending champion) defeated the young phenom.
Since the sky was overcast as opposed to last year's sunshine, I didn't apply sunscreen. I should have though because I still got a mild sunburn. I had in fact looked to buy some UV protection from a pharmacy but there were none in my friend's neighbourhood.
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