Serena and Venus Williams’ throwback US Open doubles campaign ends with first round loss | Tennis | Sport
17-year-old Noskova was making her Grand Slam debut in doubles and is a self-confessed Serena superfan, revealing that she had a poster of the former world No 1 above her bed and was “speechless” when she saw her draw. And the teenager will have more than impressed her idol with her performance in front of a partisan Arthur Ashe crowd of more than 20,000.
Veteran player Hradecka was a more familiar face for the sisters however, with Serena and Venus holding a 6-1 record over the two-time doubles Grand Slam champion on the doubles court, including at the Olympics. But this wasn’t the 37-year-old’s first win over them at the US Open, with her one victory coming in the 2013 semi-finals alongside Andrea Sestini Hlavackova.
The all-Czech team will now play the 13th seeds, Chilean duo Alexa Guarachi and Andreja Klepac in the second round. Meanwhile, Serena remains in the singles draw after stunning world No 2 Anett Kontaveit on the same court just 24 hours ago. The younger Williams sister will return to Ashe on Friday night to take on world No 46 Ajla Tomljanovic as Labor Day Weekend begins in the States.
