Venus Williams Returns Triumphant: US Open Doubles Victory After 10 Years

New York – Venus Williams secured a women’s doubles victory at the US Open for the first time in over a decade. This time, without her sister Serena, Williams teamed up with Leylah Fernandez to defeat the number six seed pair, Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez, with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-3. The 45-year-old tennis player, Venus Williams, performed her characteristic spin and salute at the end of the match. In addition, she praised Fernandez, 22, whom she described as “the best partner I’ve played with, apart from Serena”. Williams and Fernández, who were finalists in singles at Flushing Meadows in 2021, had massive support from the public in the Louis Armstrong stadium, which was almost full. The referee had to ask the crowd for silence on several occasions. The audience gave Williams and Fernández a standing ovation after winning the first tiebreak, despite being down 5-2 in that set, and applauded again at the end of the match. Chants of “Go, Venus, go!” were heard, and a banner in the stands read: “Welcome to the Williams show.”

“Wow,” Williams said in her on-court interview. “Thank you guys. Thank you for coming out to support us.”
Venus Williams

Williams hadn’t won a women’s doubles match in New York since 2014, when she and Serena reached the quarterfinals, nor in any Grand Slam tournament since the 2018 French Open.

Venus Williams Returns Triumphant: US Open Doubles Victory After 10 Years — Venus Williams, 45, llamó a su compañera de dobles Leylah Fernandez, 22, “la mejor compañera con la que he jugado, aparte de Serena”. Williams y Fernandez, que no estaban clasificadas, vencieron al dúo sembrado número seis de Lyudmyla Kichenok y Ellen Perez 7-6 (4), 6-3.

The last of the sisters’ 14 Grand Slam championships in women’s doubles was at Wimbledon in 2016. The elder Williams has also won seven Grand Slam singles titles and two mixed doubles titles. He was out of the circuit for 16 months until he returned to action playing singles and doubles in Washington in July. In Flushing Meadows, Williams lost in the first round of mixed doubles and singles, but received an invitation for women’s doubles. In singles, Williams took on the 11th seed, Karolina Muchova, to three sets before falling on Monday night. The match on Thursday was Williams’ first in doubles at a major tournament since the 2022 US Open, Serena’s last tournament.