1 Williams win (Serena), 1 Williams loss (Venus) at US Open

Making fast work of an opponent for a change, Serena Williams wrapped up her 102nd profession U.S. Open match win to interrupt a tie with Chris Evert for probably the most within the skilled period.

Then Williams headed again out to the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands Tuesday evening, her canine in tow. Williams had a match to look at — her older sister’s, which didn’t work out as properly.

Serena Williams, who turns 39 this month, defeated Kristie Ahn 7-5, 6-3. But Venus Williams, who’s 40, misplaced within the U.S. Open’s first spherical for the primary time in 22 appearances, overwhelmed 6-3, 7-5 by No. 20 Karolina Muchova.

It is the fourth time previously 5 Grand Slam tournaments that Venus exited in her opening match.

“I just ran out of time today,” Venus mentioned.

Venus, who gained two of her seven main singles championships in New York, was attempting to turn into solely the third girl in her 40s to win a U.S. Open singles match.

“We would have never thought we would still be out here, to be honest,” Serena mentioned.

“I love my job. At the end of the day, I love what I do. I’ve always said, ‘You can’t do it forever,’” she mentioned after delivering 13 aces and dropping solely six factors on her serve.

“One of these days,” Serena mentioned, “it’s going to end.”

She has gained 23 Grand Slam singles titles, probably the most within the skilled period, which started in 1968; solely Margaret Court collected extra, with 24.

Six of Serena’s trophies got here on the U.S. Open, and she or he additionally was the runner-up 4 instances, together with every of the previous two years.

Entering Tuesday, Serena had been 3-2 since tennis matches resumed after a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic — and all 5 went three units.

So Tuesday’s match was a welcome change.

“It’s been years — since the ’90s — since I won a match in straight sets,” Serena joked.

“I’ve been playing a ton of tight matches,” she mentioned. “I felt like, all right, I just wanted to be ‘Serena-focused’ from the first point to the last point, no matter what happens.”

Her profession mark on the hard-court occasion is 102-13, a profitable share of .887.

“In a weird way, I feel like every time I come here, I’m being told I broke another record,” Serena mentioned.

“It’s cool. I don’t think I appreciate it enough, which is unfortunate,” she mentioned. “But I’m in the middle of a Grand Slam, so it’s not the time to be focused for me on records when I’m thinking about winning a tournament.”

NEW PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

The man who joined Novak Djokovic in attempting to start out a brand new affiliation to signify male tennis gamers, Vasek Pospisil, mentioned there’s been “a lot of misleading information in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish” in organising the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are amongst those that have mentioned they’re not in favor of the proposal to arrange one thing exterior of the ATP Tour.

As issues stand, tennis gamers would not have a union, the way in which athletes within the main North American staff sports activities do.

“The structure within the ATP leaves the players completely, like, powerless,” Pospisil mentioned. “Our voices are just not heard. That’s all we’re trying to do here.”

Pospisil reached the U.S. Open’s second spherical on Tuesday by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (3) and can face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic in an all-Canadian matchup subsequent.

PELLA SPEAKS

One of the 2 gamers dropped from the Western & Southern Open draw final month after their health coach examined positive for the coronavirus spoke out Tuesday about what he referred to as unfair remedy.

Guido Pella, an Argentine seeded 29th at Flushing Meadows, misplaced his first-round match on the U.S. Open to American wild-card entry J.J. Wolf 6-2, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Pella mentioned he examined damaging 9 instances for COVID-19 however nonetheless was quarantined and withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open — together with Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien, who additionally misplaced Tuesday — after they’d contact with the coach. Seven gamers have been allowed to stay within the U.S. Open after they’d contact with one other participant, Benoit Paire, who examined positive.

“I suffered one of the worst injustices,” Pella mentioned. “We were not treated equally.”