Serena Williams, who lost her first match since early May to Belinda Bencic in Toronto, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, said she experienced an injury in the quarterfinals and played terribly against the teenager.
“I actually played a couple of matches like this this year, but I was able to get through them,” Williams said. “But against the better players you have to not play like this. I missed a lot. I hit a lot of double faults. I could have made one or two more shots and the results could have been different, but I just really, really didn't play up to par today, what a professional tennis player should play like. I played like an amateur, to be honest.”
The world No. 1 said she injured herself during her quarterfinal match against Roberta Vinci as she was running to chase down a drop shot. “I slipped and I fell, and I sprained my fingers. So it's just really sore,” Williams said.
In the semifinals against Bencic, Serena had her left hand taped. “I can play with swollen fingers, I guess, and my hand,” Williams said. “I don't think it should take away from anyone's win in particular. So it's fine.”
Williams, who is scheduled to play this week in Cincinnati, had only suffered one loss this season before last week, that coming in Madrid to Petra Kvitova.