It proved to be an evening of contrasting fortunes for the highly revered American sisters in the spectator less grand slam as Serena Williams advanced to the second round with a dominant win over but her elder sister Venues crashed out of the grand slam for the first time in 22 appearances.
Six time US Open champion Serena Williams defeated Kristie Ahn in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 to progress to the second round, Venus was knocked out by World No. 20 Karolina Muchova. The elder of the Williams sister is having a torrid time at the slams, exiting out in the opening round in four of her the past five Grand Slam tournaments.
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Serena who is bidding to win a record equaling 24th Grand Slam singles title and level Australian tennis great Margaret Court's haul was more than satisfied with her performance and expressed joy over still competing at the very top level in grand slams.
“We would have never thought we would still be out here, to be honest,” Serena said.
“I love my job. At the end of the day, I love what I do. I’ve always said, ‘You can’t do it forever,’” she said after delivering 13 aces and dropping only six points on her serve. “One of these days,” Serena said, “it’s going to end.”
The US Open has been a happy hunting ground for Serena as six out of her 23 grand slam singles titles have come at her home slam in New York. She had made it to the finals of the US Open in the previous two editions, only ending up as the losing finalist to Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu. Serena is currently tied with fellow American great Chris Evert Lloyd with 6 singles title wins at US Open.
Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova has advanced in straight sets at the U.S. Open. Pliskova surged ahead of Anhelina Kalinina 4-1 in the opening set, lost three games in a row, then took the last eight for a 6-4, 6-0 victory.