Venus Williams ousted from U.S. Open 1st round for 2nd consecutive appearance | CBC Sports

The welcome and support for Venus Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon were not the same as they were for her sister, Serena, a night earlier. Nor was the result.

Playing in front of thousands of empty blue seats in an arena quite silent at the start, Venus bowed out in the first round of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive appearance, losing 6-1, 7-6 (5) to Alison Van Uytvanck.

“She means so much to female tennis. Tennis, in general,” Van Uytvanck said. “She’s a legend.”

This was the 23rd trip to Flushing Meadows for Venus, who made it to the final in 1997 as a teen then won the trophy in 2000 and 2001, and her record 91st time participating in a major tournament.

Venus had never lost in the opening round at the U.S. Open until 2020, then was absent last year. She was off the tour in singles entirely from August 2021 until less than a month ago and is now 0-4 since her return. Her ranking — which 20 years ago was No. 1 — is 1,504th this week.

It was Serena who announced to the world on Aug. 9 that she was getting ready to step away from her playing career, leaving unclear exactly when the end would be, although she hinted it could come at the U.S. Open. So her first-round match Monday fell into the category of a must-see happening, drawing a record crowd of more than 29,000 to the tournament grounds, including more than 23,000 in Ashe — and the atmosphere was uproarious and electric from start to finish of her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinic.

WATCH | Serena Williams advances to 2nd round:

Serena Williams wins opening match at U.S. Open

Facing what could have potentially been her last match, Serena Williams was victorious in round one at the U.S. Open defeating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-3, 6-3.

Now Serena, who won six of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles in New York, will move on to a matchup against No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit in Ashe on Wednesday night.

And she and Venus will join forces in doubles, teaming up for the first time anywhere since 2018 this week.

Neither Williams attended the other’s first-round singles match; their mother, Oracene, and sister, Isha, were in the guest box each time. On Tuesday, they saw Venus struggle from the outset, particularly with her used-to-be-feared serve and groundstrokes that were not calibrated correctly. So many into the net. So many landing long.

After many of her 25 unforced errors, Venus would fiddle with her racket strings or tug on the brim of her visor.

Ten of those miscues came on backhands, far outnumbering her two winners on that side.

Half-dozen double-faults

There were a half-dozen double-faults, just three aces. She faced 12 break points and dropped four of her 10 service games.

Venus did make a bit of a stand, breaking to open the second set and holding for 2-0. But that would be her only break of the match and soon enough, Van Uytvanck was putting away a volley winner to close out the win.

A night earlier, Serena was feted during a post-match ceremony that included a video tribute from Oprah Winfrey and a lengthy on-court interview. After this match, Venus simply slung her red equipment bag over her left shoulder, carried her racket in her right hand, and quickly walked off toward the locker room.

Van Uytvanck now meets Clara Burel, who eliminated Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-4.

Swiatek takes 1st step toward U.S. Open title 

Iga Swiatek remembers when she was hardly noticed, so she was excited to see a photo of herself on an advertisement in Times Square.

Once little known, it’s now bright lights, big city for the No. 1 women’s tennis player.

Think how much bigger she’ll be in New York if she wins the U.S. Open.

The top seed took the first step Tuesday, beating Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-0 in a little more than an hour.

Swiatek knows it won’t be easy to regain the form that led her to 37 straight victories this year. But all it takes is seven to win another Grand Slam title.

Swiatek is just 5-4 since her winning streak that included a second French Open crown. But she looked sharp in rolling through the second set in front of red-dressed Polish fans inside Louis Armstrong Stadium.

“For sure in first set at the beginning, you know, I played a pretty solid game, but I needed to take it up to another level,” Swiatek said. “I did that at the end and in second set, so I’m pretty proud of that.”

Other straight-set winners

Other straight-set winners early on the second day of the tournament were No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 8 Jessica Pegula and No. 9 Garbine Muguruza. Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina lost 6-4, 6-4 to Clara Burel of France.

Swiatek said she watched only two games of Williams’ victory Monday, with an early start ahead of her. She is trying to become the first player to win seven or more titles in a season since Serena did it in 2014.

“She’s still No. 1 in the world and still going to compete really well and going to be tough to beat no matter what,” said Pegula, who lost to Swiatek in the French Open quarterfinals.

Rybakina won the next Grand Slam, but it didn’t do her any good in the rankings because no points were awarded at Wimbledon this year. The men’s and women’s tours took that step after the All England Club barred Russian and Belarussian players from competing because of the war in Ukraine.

Rybakina, who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan, said before this tournament she thought that was unfair, adding she didn’t even feel like a Wimbledon champion. The No. 25 seed wasn’t scheduled like one in Flushing Meadows, with her opening match played on an outer court.

No. 2 Rafael Nadal set to play Tuesday night

No. 22 seed Karolina Pliskova, the 2016 U.S. Open runner-up, needed a third-set tiebreaker to edge Magda Linette, but No. 16 Jelena Ostapenko was ousted by China’s Zheng Qinwen.

Carlos Alcaraz moved into the second round when his opponent was forced to stop because of injury in the third set. The No. 3 seed led Sebastian Baez 7-5, 7-5, 2-0 when the Argentine player motioned he couldn’t continue because of leg pain or cramps.

Alcaraz’s U.S. Open ended last year in a similar manner. He reached the quarterfinals at 18, the youngest man to get that far in New York in the professional era, before stopping in the second set of his loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime because of an upper right leg injury.

No. 7 Cam Norrie and 17th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov won in straight sets on the men’s side, with No. 2 Rafael Nadal set to play Tuesday night.