Venus Williams bows out of twenty sixth US Open with first-round loss to Sofia Kenin
NEW YORK — Venus Williams bowed out of her twenty sixth US Open singles look early Monday morning, falling in straight units to fellow American wild card Sofia Kenin after not getting on the courtroom till midnight.
The 46-year-old misplaced 6-2, 7-6 (6) in what may very well be the ultimate singles match at a Grand Slam, if not her illustrious profession. It was Williams’ 14th consecutive singles defeat relationship to her final victory in Washington in July 2025.
Williams has now misplaced six in a row on the US Open since profitable within the first spherical in 2019.
She and her 27-year-old opponent waited terribly lengthy to take the courtroom at Arthur Ashe Stadium, delayed by Novak Djokovic’s 4-hour, 36-minute defeat to Mariano Navone that threatened to maneuver them subsequent door to Louis Armstrong Stadium. The boys’s motion ended simply in time to play on Ashe — however not earlier than making some historical past.
At 12:13 a.m., it was the newest begin to a match on the US Open, six minutes later than the earlier file of Aryna Sabalenka towards Ekaterina Alexandrova within the spherical of 32 in 2024.
Kenin wanted simply 32 minutes to win the primary set, however Williams took benefit of errors and made some photographs within the second that gave the late-staying crowd motive to cheer, rallying from down 4-2 to drive a tiebreak earlier than dropping a number of set factors and putting the ball into the web to finish it.
Concluding at 2:01 a.m., it grew to become the newest end for a first-round match in US Open historical past. It’s the third-latest for a girls’s match at any stage of the match.
Williams is a quarter-century faraway from her second of back-to-back championships in New York. She additionally gained Wimbledon 5 instances from 2000-08 to provide her seven Grand Slam singles titles.
Williams and sister Serena gained 14 in doubles, together with the US Open in 1999 and 2009. They’re anticipated to compete in doubles once more this yr after receiving a wild-card entry.
