The singles Grand Slam champion and 14-times Grand Slam champion is still on his way to play Australia’s Agla Tomljanovic in the third round of the singles draw on Friday. Venus Williams lost in the first round on Tuesday.
Thursday night may be Serena and Venus’ last game as a doubles team. Czech Republic duo Noskova (17) and Hradec (37) advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory.
“I think we did a very good job, I’m very sorry we beat them, but we are very happy that we did,” Hradika told the 23,000-plus fans in an interview at the stadium moments after the match. match.
This was the first time she collaborated with Nosková in doubles.
The Williams duo started well and took two points in the first set with a 5-4 lead, but the Czechs fought back. Hradika and Noskova also trailed in the tiebreak but won the final four points.
They seemed to be leading 4-1 in the second set, but Venus and Serena managed to win three games in a row to a draw. But the Czechs held their serve to lead 5-4 and then broke Serena in the final as Hradika punched a backhand into the net between the Sisters for the match winner.
The Williams sisters entered the US Open as a wild card for the doubles. The last time they played doubles was at the 2018 French Open, when they reached the round of 16.
On Wednesday, Serena defeated Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2 in a singles match. It was Williams’ fourth match since she announced in Vogue that she would “evolve away from tennis” after the US Open.
“I never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific,” said Williams, 40, in a Vogue article that was published earlier this month.”
“Probably the best word to describe what I’m up to is development,” she said. “I’m here to tell you that I’m developing away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
Venus Williams, 42, has not announced her future tennis plans.
If they both leave the sport this year, they will do so after collecting 48 Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles) as a family and holding a perfect mark in the doubles finals (14-0). They also won three Olympic gold medals in doubles and each won individual gold.
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