The 2022 Washington Open (called the Citi Open for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It will be the 53rd edition of the Washington Open for the men. The Washington Open will take place at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, D.C., United States, from August 1 to August 7, 2022.
Former world No. 1 Andy Murray lost in the first round of the Citi Open to Swede Mikael Ymer as his preparations for the US Open took a hit. Both players were far from their best in a rollercoaster match which lasted two hours and 50 minutes in Washington.
Ymer beat the former world No. 1 7-6(8) 4-6 6-1 in the Brit’s first hard court match since February and Murray’s hopes of a strong build-up to the US Open, which begins on August 29, have taken a hit.
Despite Murray’s exit, there were two British wins on the opening day of the tournament as Jack Draper and Kyle Edmund both advanced to the second round.
Jack Draper opened his account with a solid straight sets victory over American wildcard Stefan Kozlov.
The British No.4 went through 7-5 6-2 where the top seeded Andrei Rublev awaits, a player Draper pushed hard over three sets before capitulating in the Madrid Masters earlier this year.
Edmund’s return, after three left knee surgeries and a 20-month layoff, will delight British tennis fans and his 6-4 7-6(8) defeat of Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki will no doubt give him a great lift as he launches his Tour comeback.
However, Edmund, who hadn’t played a tour-level singles match since Vienna in October 2020, a month before his first operation, will now face the British No.2 and the tournament’s 16th seed Dan Evans in round two, a meeting which will provide him with a bigger test than the Japanese player.
Emma Raducanu has suffered defeat on her professional doubles debut as herself and Clara Tauson were defeated 6-4, 6-1 by Monica Niculescu and Lucie Hradecka in the opening round of the Citi Open. Raducanu’s outing in Washington D.C. begins her North American swing as she prepares to defend her US Open title at Flushing Meadows next month, however it didn’t get off to the best of starts.
Emma Raducanu returns to the court this week with a new coach in her corner.
The British No. 1 started working with Russian Dmitry Tursunov ahead of the Citi Open in Washington DC. For now it is just a trial period together and Raducanu has said Tursunov already has pre-existing commitments for the Canadian Open next week. However, it has been reported the partnership may continue throughout the North American hard swing, which culminates at the US Open, where Raducanu will be defending champion after her shock victory a year ago.
Venus Williams’ comeback to the tour ended in a first-round defeat at the hands of Rebecca Marino at the Citi Open on Monday. The Canadian qualifier came from a set down to defeat the former world no. 1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 52 minutes.
The 41-year-old Williams was playing her first event in almost a year – she hadn’t played since the Chicago Open held in the last week of August 2021 – and despite the obvious lack of match practice did well to go up a set in the match.
But she wasn’t able to sustain her rhythm as the match progressed further. It wasn’t to be. Marino, the world No. 111, stormed back, winning the next five games and ultimately the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Serena Williams, 40, isn’t competing at this week’s Citi Open in Washington but she is in the city, preparing to kick off her summer on hard courts.
Next week, both Serena and Venus are expected to compete at the National Bank Open in Toronto. The Williams sisters are also expected to compete in Cincinnati and then the US Open.