NEW YORK – Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez scored a third round of women’s doubles at the U.S. Open 7-6 (1) on Saturday.
Williams and Fernandez were long behind like the first round, and then rallied and found the rhythm. The 45-year-old American and the 22-year-old Canadian didn’t enter the venue together until this week.
“We have some secrets,” Williams said. “I’m telling her something, but, yes, I think we forgot we’ve come down. We focus on winning the game. The score doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you keep putting it in and keep being the one who wins the point and then here you get to the end.”
Williams is the 14-time Grand Slam women’s doubles champion with the Serena sisters. During the competition, she even encouraged fans to stand up.
“I actually never did that,” Williams said. “But we were frustrated, so we wanted the energy you brought. We needed.”
Williams has been on leave for 16 months until he returned to action by playing singles and doubles in Washington in July.
In a singles at the U.S. Open, she pushed Karolina Muchova of the 11th seed to the first round of Monday and then bowed.
Fernandez, who reached the singles final at the U.S. Open in 2021, called Williams an inspiration and always kept the momentum.
“It’s interesting,” Fernandez said. “I love Venus. She kept asking me how I felt between transitions and I was like, ‘I feel good, I’m excited.'”
