Venus Williams claimed her first grand slam victory for four years in the opening round of the women’s doubles at the US Open.
Although she lost her first-round singles match against Karolina Muchova on Monday, the 45-year-old rolled back the years with an impressive performance and she agreed to team up with Canadian Leylah Fernandez in doubles.
Facing sixth seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok – who won the title last year with Jelena Ostapenko – and Ellen Perez, Williams and Fernandez fought back from a first-set deficit to claim a 7-6 (4) 6-3 win.
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— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) August 28, 2025
Leylah Fernandez and Venus Williams team up to knock out 6th seeds Kichenok/Perez to kick off the doubles tournament 🤯#USOpen pic.twitter.com/V7IiXU0F3e
It is Williams’ first win at a major since beating Mihaela Buzarnescu in singles at Wimbledon four years ago, while her last slam doubles victory came with her sister Serena at the French Open back in 2018.
“Thank you to my partner, best partner I’ve ever played with outside of Serena,” said a beaming Williams.
The American won 14 grand slam titles alongside Serena, with the most recent coming at Wimbledon nine years ago.
Asked about Fernandez’s approach, Williams said: “I couldn’t believe it, it was 10pm. I was thinking to myself, ‘I’m not very good at doubles’.
“I really don’t know what I’m doing, I just try really hard. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be back here.”
Fernandez is best known for having lost to Emma Raducanu in the singles final here four years ago and she made a little-and-large combination with Williams that turned out to be very effective.
“I don’t think we came in with a plan,” said the Canadian, who is 23 years younger than Williams.
“We tried to figure things out in the beginning. It was a great atmosphere, a lot of fun. I’m just honoured to be sharing a court with Venus.
“It was nerve-racking, exciting. The night before I was shaking. Once we started, everything started flowing so it was good.”
Iga Swiatek survived a second-round wobble to progress in singles.
The second seed arrived in New York as the form player on the women’s tour after following up her Wimbledon title by winning the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati.
She had looked full of confidence in her first match but made a host of errors in the second set against Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens before coming through 6-1 4-6 6-4.
From 4-3 up in the second set after a one-sided first, Swiatek tightened up and lost four games in a row as Lamens, ranked 66, forced a deciding set.
Lamens fought back again after going 4-1 down but Swiatek kept her nerve this time to set up what could be another battle against 29th seed Anna Kalinskaya.
Unstoppable Naomi 🟣 pic.twitter.com/JaBDVh2BTI
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 28, 2025
Swiatek said: “It wasn’t an easy match and I made some mistakes. I’m happy that at the end I could be more proactive.
“I probably got a little tight in the second set and she used the opportunity and was using her chances. It was not easy, but the third set is a reset.”
Former champion Naomi Osaka has looked in good form so far and she eased into round three with a 6-3 6-1 win over Hailey Baptiste.
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