Venus Williams has won a tennis match against a player in the top 20 in the world for the first time in four years and reached the second round of the WTA tournament in Cincinnati.
Against the Russian Veronika Kudermetowa, who was seeded 16th, the now 43-year-old American won 6: 4, 7: 5 after being 4-1 down in both sets. Since 2019, the seven-time Grand Slam winner had lost ten games in a row against top 20 players.
“I just said to myself: Win this point, not the game, just this point,” said Serena Williams’ sister after her success two weeks before the start of the US Open.
Sloane Stephens also advanced to the second round of the hard court tournament, which is worth around 2.8 million US dollars. She won 7:5, 6:2 against Elisabetta Cocciaretto from Italy and now meets defending champion Caroline Garcia.
For the men, who also stop in Cincinnati on the ATP tour, Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada defeated the Italian Matteo Berrettini 4: 6, 6: 2, 6: 3.
