MONTREAL (AP) — Genie Bouchard extended her tennis career for at least one more match Monday, beating Emiliana Arango 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the first round of the National Bank Open.
Bouchard, who reached the Wimbledon final and two other Grand Slam semifinals in 2014, announced this month that she would retire after a final appearance in her hometown tournament.
She then opened it with her first WTA Tour victory since 2023 — and the 300th of her career — and advanced to face No. 17 seed Belinda Bencic.
Bouchard reached No. 5 in the rankings in 2014 but the 31-year-old has largely switched to pickleball, playing just one match this season before being given a wild card into the Montreal tournament.
After splitting the first two sets, Bouchard broke the 82nd-ranked Arango twice — first with a forehand, then from the Colombian’s missed volley — to build a 5-1 lead in the decisive third.
Arango broke back with Bouchard serving for the match to make it 5-2, but the Canadian went up 40-love in the ensuing game. Arango then sent her backhand wide on Bouchard’s second match point.
Bouchard waved and blew kisses to the crowd after the win.
“I told my family that if I won, I would come out of retirement,” she said from center court. “I felt like the old Genie out there.”
Emma Raducanu, playing just two days after losing in the semifinals in Washington, beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-2, 6-4. Naomi Osaka, in her first tournament since announcing she would no longer work with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, eliminated Ariana Arseneault 6-4, 6-2.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Eugenie Bouchard, of Canada, celebrates after defeating Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during her first-round match at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Eugenie Bouchard, of Canada, celebrates after defeating Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during her first-round match at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Eugenie Bouchard, of Canada, celebrates after defeating Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during her first-round match at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A hard-line cleric leading Friday prayers in Iran's capital demanded the death penalty for protesters detained in a nationwide crackdown and directly threatened U.S. President Donald Trump, showing the hard-line rage gripping the Islamic Republic after the demonstrations.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami's sermon carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!” Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, had been two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible military action against Iran over the protests.
Khatami's remarks also offered the first nationwide counts of damage done during the demonstrations, which began Dec. 28 over Iran's ailing economy and soon morphed into demonstrations directly challenging the country's theocracy.
Iran cut off access to the internet Jan. 8 and intensified a bloody crackdown on all dissent, which the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports killed at least 2,677 people. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll and Iran has offered no overall casualty figures.
Khatami, appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a member of both the country's Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council, described the protesters at time as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump's soldiers.” He insisted their plans “had imagined disintegrating the country”
“They should wait for hard revenge from the system,” Khatami said of Netanyahu and Trump. “Americans and Zionists should not expect peace.”
Khatami long has been known for his hard-line views in Iran, including in 2007 when he said a fatwa calling for the death of writer Salman Rushdie remained in effect. He also threatened Israel in a 2018 speech by saying Iran could “raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground” with its missile arsenal.
Khatami also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places had sustained damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran's theocracy — also had been damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the country's government.
Khatami said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulance, 71 fire department vehicles and another 50 emergency vehicles sustained damage, showing the scale of the protests.
“They want you to withdraw from religion,” Khatami said. “They planned these crimes from a long time ago,"
Khatami, as a cleric in the public positions, would have access to such data from authorities and mentioning it at Friday prayers likely meant Iran's government wanted the information to be communicated without having to formally address the public. He also issued a call for the arrest of “individuals who supporters the rioters in any way.”
FILE - Iranian senior cleric Ahmad Khatami delivers his sermon during Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
