WTA Lexington: Venus Williams makes Sister Act clear, Cori Gauff also continues
Venus Williams won her opening match in Lexington against Victoria Azarenka - and now meets sister Serena.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Aug 12, 2020, 08:09 am
Williams won 6: 3, 6: 2 and thus decided the first match since September 2019 for yourself, across seasons, she had lost five games in a row.
She too said how difficult it was to come back and play well after such a long break. "Most of the time in training you hit the ball well, then there is a match - and that's just different," said the 40-year-old.
Venus now meets sister Serena Williams , who had turned her first round match against Bernarda Pera to victory after a 4: 6, 4: 4 and 0:40. Serena leads in direct comparison with Venus with 18:12. The last duel between the two took place at the US Open 2018, Serena won 6: 1, 6: 2.
Gauff, Fernandez, Bellis: three youngsters celebrate great victories
Youngster Coco Gauff also successfully started the tour resumption. The 16-year-old won 7: 5, 7: 5 against qualifier Caroline Dolehide and will now face Arna Sabalenka, who was seeded two.
The 17-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez also caused a surprise, beating Sloane Stephens 6: 3, 6: 3 and building on her strong performances before the tour shutdown: In February she won the Fed Cup against Belinda Bencic , then played in Acapulco from qualifying to the final and in Monterrey to the quarter-finals, also after defeating Stephens. From her ranking of 209 at the beginning of the year, she rose to position 120 in these weeks. Fernandez will now meet Shelby Rogers.
Pleasing: After her long injury odyssey, the 21-year-old CiCi Bellis was also in the main field of Lexington and won against Lucky Loser Francesca di Lorenzo 6: 1, 6: 2. Lorenzo had slipped into the field for Amanda Anisimova after she had to give up due to a shoulder injury w / o.