Venus Williams continues to prove that there is more to tennis than larger numbers in age and smaller numbers in rankings which accompany your name.
The 45-year-old Williams and her playing partner, 22-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez, defeated the sixth-seeded team of Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Ellen Perez of Australia, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in a match which was moved from the Grandstand court to the cavernous — and raucous — Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Perhaps the sixth seeds were fooled by the No. 582 next to Venus’ name in the women’s doubles rankings. But one half of the one of the best women’s doubles team ever to get their racquets strung demonstrated that she can compete at the highest level.
Williams and Fernandez fell behind 502 in the first set but earned the break back in the ninth game and forced the set to a tie-breaker. With the tiebreaker at 4-4, Williams and Fernandez won the final three points.
The new duo broke at love in the second game of the set, fended off two break points in the next game and only lost one point in their final three services games to advance to the second round.
The wild-card entries only committed 10 unforced errors while their opponents totaled 16.
Williams had high praise for Fernandez after the match. And some good humor. “She’s the best partner I ever played with besides (sister) Serena (Williams). We play the same style. I’m just a little bit bigger.”
Venus and Serena Williams won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, including a pair (1999, 2009) at the U.S. Open.
Wednesday’s match was the first doubles competition in a major for Venus since the 2022 U.S. Open in Serena’s farewell to competitive tennis.
“I don’t think we came in with a plan,” Fernandez said after the match. “We tried to figure things out in the beginning. Venus said the most amazing strategy during the changeover, ‘Bring the energy up’ — It was a great atmosphere.”
The duo will face unseeded Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Eri Hozumi of Japan in the round of 32.
–Field Level Media
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