Williams & Fernandez advance to doubles third round

US Open 2025

Dates: August 24 through September 7 in Flushing Meadows, New York

Venus Williams and partner Leylah Fernandez reached the third round of the women’s doubles competition to extend her run at the US Open.

Eri Hozumi and Ulrikke Eikeri were defeated 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 by the 45-year-old American and Canadian Fernandez, who is 23 years her junior.

Williams won her second Grand Slam match in the previous four years, her first victory coming in the previous round.

The American hasn’t advanced to the third round of a major since she did it with her sister Serena at the 2018 French Open.

Williams and Fernandez initially struggled in the first set, but they rallied and eventually came out on top in the tie-break.

Williams claimed that “we have a few secrets.”

“I told her a few things, but I guess we forgot to get down,” she said.

In the first round of the women’s singles on Tuesday, Czech 11th seed Karolina Muchova defeated Williams, a seven-time singles champion and 14-time doubles champion.

However, she made an impression after the defeat and later accepted a wildcard invitation to play tennis with Fernandez, age 22.

They haven’t lost a set at Flushing Meadows together thanks to their victory over Japan’s and Norway’s Hozumi and Eikeri, who are both very experienced doubles players.

Williams turned 16 months away from the WTA Tour before making her return to action in Washington this week, making her the oldest singles player in 44 years.

In the following round, they will face Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai or Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal, or both of them from the UK.

In another incident, Briton Henry Patten and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara were knocked out by Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase in the first round of men’s doubles.

The German-Dutch duo won the match 7-6 (7-6 (11-29) 7-5 after losing the first set in a tie-break).