NEW YORK, Aug 31: The welcome and support for Venus Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon were not the same as they were for her sister, Serena, a night earlier. Nor was the result.
Playing in front of thousands of empty blue seats in an arena quite silent at the start, although growing louder later, Venus bowed out in the first round of the US Open for the second consecutive appearance, losing 6-1, 7-6 (5) to Alison Van Uytvanck.
Venus had never lost in the opening round at the US Open until 2020, then was absent last year.
At night, Emma Raducanu became only the third defending US Open champion to lose in the first round, eliminated by Alizé Cornet 6-3, 6-3. And yet another past champ bowed out in straight sets when Naomi Osaka, who won two of her four Grand Slam titles in New York, was eliminated by Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a match that ended after midnight.
Osaka, a former No. 1, also lost in the first round of the French Open this year and has slid to 44th in the rankings. She had been 3-0 head-to-head against Collins, but this fun-to-watch, hard-hitting matchup went the other way.
“When you lose to somebody three times,” said the 19th-seeded Collins, who has struggled with injuries this season, “you have nothing to lose, so I tried to go for it and hope for the best.”
Raducanu, who was 18 and ranked 150th when she won the title as a qualifier a year ago, was bothered by hand blisters – she took a medical timeout for treatment after the first set – and was outplayed by Cornet, a 32-year-old from France who also upset No 1 Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon.
Also playing under the lights was 22-time major champion Rafael Nadal, who returned to the US Open for the first time since 2019 and beat 21-year-old Rinky Hijikata 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Nadal did not show any serious lingering issues with the torn abdominal muscle that forced him out of Wimbledon in July.
Venus was off the tour in singles entirely from August 2021 until less than a month ago and is now 0-4 since her return. Her ranking – which 20 years ago was No. 1 – is 1,504th this week.
In other action on a humid and windy Day 2 at the hard-court tournament, women’s winners included 2017 champion Sloane Stephens, No 1 Iga Swiatek, No 6 Aryna Sabalenka, No 8 Jessica Pegula, No 9 Garbiñe Muguruza, No 13 Belinda Bencic – whose opponent, Andrea Petkovic, said she is retiring from pro tennis – and No 22 Karolina Pliskova, 2016 runner-up in New York.
Men who advanced included 2014 champion Marin Cilic, No 3 Carlos Alcaraz, No 7 Cam Norrie, No 8 Hubert Hurkacz, No 9 Andrey Rublev, No 11 Jannik Sinner, No 15 Marin Cilic, No 17 Grigor Dimitrov and No 28 Holger Rune, who meets John Isner next.
Neither Williams attended the other’s first-round singles match; Venus said she watched Serena on TV but was not there in person because of her own early start the next day. (AP)
