American legend Venus Williams has crashed out of the US Open in the early hours of the morning after a “dysfunctional” scheduling decision.
Williams didn’t begin her match against Sofia Kenin until after midnight with the clash briefly moved to Louis Armstrong Stadium before remaining on Arthur Ashe.
The 46-year-old, who received a wildcard into the tournament, was given a standing ovation when she entered the court, although it wasn’t the packed house expected given the time.
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They didn’t begin until shortly after midnight due to the previous match between Novak Djokovic and Mariano Navane going five sets.
And the match didn’t finish until just after 2am local time.
The scheduling immediately drew criticism from pundits and fans.
“This Venus-Kenin match is setting a new record for latest EVER start to a US Open match. The previous record was 12:08am for Sabalenka-Alexandrova in 2024. This match started at 12:13am by my clock,” prominent tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg tweeted.
“This is dysfunctional.”
Christopher Clarey addded: ”Are they really going to send Venus Williams, at age 46, on court at the US Open around midnight? I have to think not and let me be clear, I don’t think any match at any age should be started around midnight at any tennis tournament.”
Jose Morgado called the scheduling “disgraceful”.
Fans were equally furious.
“Since this Djokovic/Navone match is going to a fifth set, please send Venus Williams home so she can sleep and give her a decent match time tomorrow. Playing past midnight is crazy and disrespectful,” one fan said.
“That fact that this match started after midnight is an absolute farce. Center court sat empty for over 4 hours in the middle of the day. Stop scheduling matches for profit maximization and start scheduling matches for player health and the fan experience,” another said.
“And there should be no reason for two slam champions to play at 12am,” another said.
Kenin raced through the first set in no time, and looked on track for a comfortable victory until Williams suddenly lifted in the second set.
From trailing 2-4, Williams reeled off the next three games and had three set points when Kenin was serving at 0-40 4-5.
But the two-time US Open champion couldn’t convert as a tiebreaker was eventually needed to decide the set.
Williams opened up a 6-2 lead, but tightened up completely to lose the next five points in a shattering end to the match.
The match finished just after 2am local time with only a few hundred fans staying to farewell Williams.
Williams will return to the court in the doubles, alongside sister Serena.
Earlier, American Jessica Pegula cruised past Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 6-2 to reach the second round, taming early nerves in her latest bid for a maiden major title.
Rain eventually arrived on the opening day of the tournament, suspending play on the outside courts, but not before Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina also made strong starts to their US Open campaigns, with Kostyuk cruising past Australian qualifier Storm Hunter before ninth seed Svitolina took control against Argentina’s Solana Sierra.
The world No.3 Pegula squandered eight break-point chances early in the first set as she opened the action on Arthur Ashe Stadium, before hitting her stride with 26 winners to just 14 from her opponent, closing it out with an unreturnable forehand.
She will have two days’ rest under the 15-day schedule the tournament rolled out last year.
“I was so nervous today,” she said.
“(Now) I get to sit around the site and watch everyone else freak out.”
Those nerves were apparent in a tricky opening set, in which Ruse saved eight break points in a marathon third game but sent a shot wide to hand a break to Pegula in the fifth.
The Romanian held her arms aloft after surviving an entertaining cat-and-mouse exchange at the net to save break point in the seventh with a perfect backhand slice.
But Pegula took control of the match from there, cruising through her next service game before breaking Ruse with a forehand winner to close out the set.
Pegula sprinted through the next set, when she won all of her first-serve points and broke in the sixth and eighth games.
Meanwhile, twice grand slam winner Barbora Krejcikova became the first seeded player (27) to exit the tournament, saving six match points before succumbing to Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 on the outer courts.
Rakhimova, who has never made it past the third round at the majors, will play the winner of Monday’s match between Japan’s Aoi Ito and Spain’s Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Italian 19th seed Jasmine Paolini survived a scare to get past Slovenia’s Veronika Erjavec 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the opening match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, firing off 36 winners to just 13 from her opponent.
Kostyuk launched her latest bid for a maiden Grand Slam title by breezing past Australian Hunter 6-4 6-1.
After stumbling at this year’s Australian Open, Kostyuk has been in sublime form at the Grand Slams, making the semi-finals of the French Open and Wimbledon to arrive at Flushing Meadows as a genuine contender in the women’s draw.
The 11th seed got down to business quickly once the match began and powered to a 4-1 lead before overcoming a wobble to close out the first set when Hunter produced a double fault on set point.
Kostyuk tightened her grip on the clash in the second set, breaking early and never allowing Hunter a route back into the match as she wrapped up victory in 67 minutes.
“I’m very happy to be back to this amazing place,” Kostyuk said on court.
“It’s not easy to play a qualifier, they’ve played a whole tournament (already). I’m very happy with my performance today. I try to keep myself grounded. There’s still a long way to go, I’m enjoying my tennis.”
— With AAP
