Former World No.1 Andy Roddick believes the opening round of the Cincinnati Open between Serena Williams and Emma Raducanu will be a good match-up for the former before the all-important US Open. Williams has announced that she will be retiring from the game after the New York Major.

It will be an interesting contest between the defending US Open champion and the six-time winner. Williams recently took part in the Canadian Open, where she lost to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the second round.

The 23-time Major winner will look to get more game time in the Western and Southern Open before the US Open.

Andy Roddick said while talking to Tennis Channel, “This is actually a good matchup for Serena, needing to kind of get those reps going in to New York. She’s gonna get a lot of balls to hit, she’s gonna get a look at her serve. It’s not gonna blow her off the court. It’s going to be kind of a pressure mechanism,” noted Roddick.

Roddick feels Serena Williams was striking the ball well in her clash against Belinda Bencic despite losing in straight sets.

“I actually thought Serena was hitting the ball pretty well against Belinda Bencic, I know she lost and the score-line was pretty straightforward. I think the fact that she’ll have a little bit more time against Raducanu. Raducanu is not gonna come out and hit flat inside the court, switch directions like Bencic was (doing) and kind of bully Serena’s movement,’’ he observed.

On the other hand, Roger Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone believes Serena Williams will be looking to get a few matches under her belt and Raducanu is going to give her a good fight.

“Ya, a few matches would be great to get under the belt and against someone like Raducanu. She doesn’t have the fire power, like Andy said, that can hit her off the court, she doesn’t take the ball early like Bencic does to steal Serena’s time, so this should give Serena some rhythm where she can dictate what’s going on,” said Annacone.

Serena Williams will face Emma Raducanu on Monday.