New York, Aug 26 Venus Williams put on a show for the fans in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium but ultimately fell to No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova in the first round.
Muchova, last year’s semifinalist, proved too strong for the seven-time Grand Slam winner, closing out a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory in exactly two hours.
The result marked Venus’ fourth consecutive first-round exit in New York.
Venus was broken in the opening game and quickly fell behind 0-2, facing three break points in her second service game at risk of going down a double break early. But she saved all three and rallied to win three straight games, taking a 3-2 lead before dropping the next four to concede the first set. She committed seven double faults in the opener.
In the second set she broke Muchova in the opening game and never looked back, hitting 10 winners to just five unforced errors, and limiting herself to one double fault. But the momentum didn’t last. Venus faded in the third set, allowing Muchova to regain control and seal the win, WTA reports.
Muchova advanced to face either Sorana Cirstea or Solana Sierra in the second round. Reflecting on the match, she acknowledged the challenge and the honor of sharing the court with a legend.
Williams was competing in a record 25th US Open singles campaign, 28 years after debuting in 1997, the year she stunned the world by powering into the final as a teen phenom.
Three years later she won her first US Open before defending her title in 2001, the first of only three women this century—the others Kim Clijsters and her sister Serena Williams—to retain a women’s singles crown at Flushing Meadows.
Sixteen years later, in 2017, she was mere points away from another US Open final before being pipped by eventual champion Sloane Stephens.
Against Muchova she was playing her 101st US Open singles match, of which she has won 79—numbers bettered only by Serena, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
At age 45, she is the third-oldest woman to play a singles match in the tournament’s history.
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