Venus Williams, Leylah Fernandez Advance in US Open Women's Doubles

Venus Williams has reached the third round of a doubles major for the first time since 2018 at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York. She achieved this with her partner Leylah Fernandez, beating Eri Hozumi and Ulrikke Eikeri 7-6 (7-1) 6-1. This is Williams' second Grand Slam match victory in four years.

Williams, aged 45, and Fernandez, 23 years younger, faced an early setback in the first set but managed to turn the match around and win comfortably in the tie-break. Williams expressed that their focus was on winning the match and not on the score, emphasizing the importance of staying determined to win each point.

Despite being defeated in the women's singles by Czech 11th seed Karolina Muchova, Williams accepted a wildcard to partner with Fernandez in the doubles. The duo's victory against the experienced pair of Hozumi and Eikeri means they have not dropped a set together at Flushing Meadows.

Williams, a seven-time singles and 14-time doubles Grand Slam champion, returned to the WTA Tour after 16 months in July. She became the oldest singles player in 44 years to compete at Flushing Meadows this week. In the next round, Williams and Fernandez will face either the British pair of Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal or Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai.

In other matches, Briton Henry Patten and Finnish player Harri Heliovaara were eliminated in the men's doubles first round by Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase. The German-Dutch pair lost the first set in a tie-break but managed to win the following two sets for a 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (11-9) 7-5 victory. Patten and Heliovaara had previously won the Australian Open title this year and were Wimbledon champions in 2024.

Additionally, Jamie Murray and his Croatian partner Ivan Dodig were defeated 6-4 6-3 by Brazilian duo Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo.