NEW YORK — Venus Williams’ US Open is over after she and her doubles partner, Leylah Fernandez, were routed 6-1, 6-2 in their quarterfinal match by the No. 1 seeds, Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.
Williams and Fernandez had never played doubles together and entered the tournament as a wild-card entry. They surprised many by winning three matches, including a third-round tilt against the No. 12 seeds, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Shuai Zhang. After that match, Williams implored her younger sister, and former doubles partner, Serena, to show up at Flushing Meadows for additional support.
But this destruction took all of 56 minutes, as Townsend and Siniakova exerted their experience together, powering to the semifinals with 19 winners and an 88% win rate on their first serves.
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Townsend and Siniakova, who won Wimbledon in 2024 and the Australian Open in January, move on to the semifinals to take on No. 4 seed Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, who won their quarterfinal matchup over Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, the No. 5 seed, in straight sets.
The 45-year-old Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, returned to the court earlier this summer after taking a 16-month break. She had not mentioned retirement and has continued to play competitive tennis, in both singles and doubles, since returning from her hiatus.
‘I don’t know. I was so focused on this tournament here. I really felt like we had a chance to really continue to play into the tournament,’ Williams said when asked about her post US Open plans. ‘So I haven’t given that any thought. I do have commitments, you know, places I said I’d be, people expecting me to be there, like, the next few weeks. So I have to go and show up.
‘But I’m very serious about my commitments. I would never want to cancel now, so I’ll try to keep those. If there is opportunity for me to play, then hopefully I can get back somewhere this year. I just don’t know. I really don’t.’