The Cinderella run of 45-year-old Venus Williams and 22-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez got here to a screeching halt late Tuesday afternoon within the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open girls’s doubles competitors in New York.
Williams and Fernandez, who teamed up hours earlier than the bracket was introduced and captivated throngs of followers in New York, bumped into the top-seeded duo of Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend and fell 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes.
The unlikely companions gained three matches, together with twice over seeded groups, and packed the principle stadium courts within the course of.
However Siniakova and Townsend, who personal a pair of Grand Slam titles (2024 Wimbledon, 2025 Australian Open) demonstrated their doubles acumen, producing 19 winners and committing solely three unforced errors. In addition they gained 28 of 34 service factors, by no means dealing with a break in seven service video games.
Williams served two of the three video games the multi-generational duo captured.
“Rising up watching Venus and Serena had at all times been for me and my sister an inspiration,” Townsend stated within the post-match on-court interview. “We wished to be like them after we grew up and it is an honor to have the ability to share the courtroom with (Venus) in the present day.”
Regardless of the loss, the gang at Louis Armstrong Stadium roared its approval as Williams and Fernandez departed the courtroom.
Townsend and Siniakova now will face the No. 4 seeds, Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova and Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who defeated a Russian duo of fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-2.
–Discipline Stage Media/Reuters
