{"id":2649,"date":"2026-08-31T10:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T10:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=2649"},"modified":"2026-08-31T10:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T10:01:27","slug":"venus-williams-bows-out-of-us-open-with-straight-sets-defeat-to-sofia-kenin-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=2649","title":{"rendered":"Venus Williams bows out of US Open with straight-sets defeat to Sofia Kenin | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 49 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Published On 31 Aug 2026<\/span>31 Aug 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

American wildcard Sofia Kenin beat 46-year-old compatriot Venus Williams 6-2, 7-6(6) in a \u2060\u2060US Open first-round match \u2060\u2060that began past midnight in New York, the latest start in women\u2019s tournament history.<\/p>\n

The match at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday got under way after Novak Djokovic\u2019s loss to Mariano Navone in five sets<\/a>, with a sizable contingent of fans staying on well past midnight for one more look at Williams, who was playing as a wildcard in her 96th career Grand \u2060\u2060Slam main draw appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was extremely late,\u201d Williams told reporters. \u201cI\u2019ve never played a match that late before, and I was happy to see that so many people stuck around for that. It was a real honour to play in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenin broke serve in the opening game and never trailed \u200c\u200cin the first set, racing to a 3-0 lead as both players struggled to find their rhythm, combining for nine double faults.<\/p>\n

Williams, cheered on by chants of \u201cLet\u2019s go Venus\u201d, broke back to love to trim the deficit to 3-1 but dropped serve again as Kenin pulled away to close out the set.<\/p>\n

Kenin reeled off three straight games to lead 3-1 in the second set, and while Williams showed flashes of the form that earned her seven \u2060\u2060Grand Slam titles, she struggled to string points together, with her second \u2060\u2060serve proving especially costly.<\/p>\n

Kenin saved four break points to level at 5-5, leaving Williams screaming in frustration at handing her opponent another game with unforced errors. However, Williams still found a way to hold for 6-5 before Kenin forced \u2060\u2060a tiebreak.<\/p>\n

Williams appeared to have the upper hand in the tiebreak but could not convert any of her seven set points, as Kenin dug \u2060\u2060in to close out the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not ideal,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI \u2060\u2060would have preferred something else, definitely. It wasn\u2019t great for either of us, so I think we both tried our best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know any other sport where you have to\u00a0start that late. I definitely think there\u2019s room for\u00a0improvement there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s \u200c\u200cnot easy to do in the first round. It\u2019s not easy to do it at 1 or 2 in the morning to try to find your rhythm and play your best, \u200c\u200cbut \u200c\u200cI tried my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, will next face top-ranked American Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

\"Venus
Venus Williams waves as she leaves the court [Frank Franklin II\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medvedev out, Paolini through<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, former champion Daniil Medvedev and Pegula \u2060\u2060advanced with little fuss earlier in the day, as players began their campaigns to grab a slice of the record prize purse of $108m up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Russian Medvedev had crashed out in a chaotic first-round defeat a year ago but was all business on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, downing French qualifier Hugo Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to quieten doubts after a frustrating run-up to the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last couple of weeks were not easy,\u201d said Medvedev, who exited the Cincinnati and Montreal tournaments early. \u201cI\u2019m happy that today \u2060\u2060I managed to produce high-level tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of ticketholders were lined up long before the action kicked off, and the home crowd was rewarded as world number three Pegula beat Romania\u2019s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-2 in the first match \u2060\u2060at the showpiece stadium.<\/p>\n

Twice Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova earlier became the first seeded player to exit the tournament, saving six match points before succumbing to Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6(4), 6-2 on the outer courts.<\/p>\n

Italian Jasmine Paolini survived a scare to beat Slovenia\u2019s Veronika \u200c\u200cErjavec 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the opener at Louis Armstrong Stadium to set up a meeting with compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini.<\/p>\n

Czech Jiri Lehecka kicked off the action on the Grandstand with a 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 win over Spain\u2019s Pablo Carreno Busta before Ukraine\u2019s Marta Kostyuk swatted aside Australian Storm Hunter 6-4, \u200c\u200c6-1 \u200c\u200cat the same stadium.<\/p>\n

Kostyuk was joined in the next round by compatriot Elina Svitolina, who eased past Solana Sierra 6-1, 6-2.<\/p>\n

Former champion Marin Cilic and 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud pulled out due to injuries shortly after the tournament got under way.<\/p>\n

\"Russia's
Daniil Medvedev chases a shot from Hugo Gaston [Angela Weiss\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published On 31 Aug 202631 Aug 2026 American wildcard Sofia Kenin beat 46-year-old compatriot Venus Williams 6-2, 7-6(6) in a \u2060\u2060US Open first-round match \u2060\u2060that began past midnight in New York, the latest start in women\u2019s tournament history. The match at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday got under way after Novak Djokovic\u2019s loss to Mariano…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-news"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}