US Open: Venus Williams’ campaign ends with women’s doubles QF loss
New York: American legend Venus Williams and her Canadian partner Leylah Fernandez knocked out of the US Open women’s doubles draw after losing to No. 1 seeded team of American Taylor Townsend and Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova.
Townsend and Siniakova breezed into the semifinals, beating Venus/Fernandez, 6-1, 6-2.
Venus, 45, was competing in the US Open doubles draw after accepting a wild card to play singles and participating in the Mixed Doubles Championships.
“I’m really happy with the way that we played today,” said Townsend. “Especially playing opponents that are that tough and are able to kind of make adjustments on the fly, and Venus is a legend and understands and knows how to win and figure things out when things aren’t going her way. And Leylah the same. She always is a fighter.
“It really made me very proud, and I’m sure Kat as well, of the way we were able to stay solid from start to finish,” she added.
Meanwhile, the defending champs and all-Italian team of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini continued their quest to collect back-to-back US Open women’s doubles titles. They needed a second-set tiebreak to beat No. 7 seeds American Asia Muhammad and Dutch Demi Schuurs. Final score, 6-1, 7-6(5).
Elsewhere, No. 3 seeds Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe lost the first set to No. 11 seeds Hungary’s Timea Babos and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani, 0-6. The favored duo—who are also the 2023 US Open women’s doubles champions—rediscovered their winning ways to take the second two sets. Final match score to Dabrowski/Routliffe, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Wimbledon champions and No. 4 seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Germany’s Elise Mertens registered a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win against No. 5 seeds Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.