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TORONTO — It was not so much a tennis rematch as a reboot, a chance for Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka to face off without the static and sideshow that marred their United States Open final 11 months ago.
They met Friday night in a Rogers Cup quarterfinal, together on court for the first time since Osaka’s straight-sets victory in Queens, with results that could not have been more different.
This time, the only fireworks came off Williams’s racket, as her bludgeoning power yielded 12 aces to Osaka’s none in a 6-3, 6-4 victory.