Venus Williams remains in the crowded hunt for the women’s No.1 tennis ranking – even though she had no idea she could claim the coveted spot at the US Open.
Ninth seed Williams overcame a mid-match lapse to pick up a 6-3 3-6 6-2 victory in Arthur Ashe Stadium against Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, a 19-year-old qualifier who is ranked 135th.
The oldest woman in the field at age 37, Williams entered the Open as one of eight women with a chance to rise atop the WTA rankings by tournament’s end.
She said she was unaware of that possibility.
“I just want to win, and if you get the win, you get the ranking,” said Williams, who was previously at No.1 in 2002.
It was the first tour-level, main-draw match of Kuzmova’s career, and the 967th for Williams, who won the title at Flushing Meadows in 2000 and 2001, in addition to her five Wimbledon championships.
Williams is in her 19th US Open; she reached the final in her 1997 debut, about eight months before Kuzmova was born.
“I had no idea what she looked like, who she was, anything. But she played amazing. She played well, served well, competed well. Definitely a match I had to earn,” said Williams.
Before the American’s match was over, that number of No.1 ranking contenders was reduced to seven, because the No. 7-seeded Johanna Konta was bounced by 78th-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 4-6 6-3 6-4.
“I don’t take anything for granted,” said Konta, who was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon just last month. “I think it would be quite obnoxious of me to come in here expecting I have a right to be in second week.”
Earlier, Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza needed just an hour to beat American Varvara Lepchenko and advance to the second round.
The third-seeded Spaniard looked efficient in the tournament’s first match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, firing 16 winners, twice as many as her opponent, in the 6-0 6-3 victory.
Muguruza is arguably the hottest player on the women’s tour and is considered one of the favourites, despite never having been past the second round at Flushing Meadows.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the 13th seed, beat former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-5 7-5 on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Other matches involving seeded players to finish quickly during Monday’s opening session included 18th seed Caroline Garcia of France defeating Czech Tereza Martincova 6-0 6-1 and 31st seed Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia defeating Italian Camila Giorgi 6-3 6-4.
Julia Goerges, the 30th seed beat fellow German Annika Beck 6-1 6-0 but 24th seed Kiki Bertens was a casualty, losing 6-3 6-4 to Maria Sakkari of Greece.
American 18-year-old wildcard Sofia Kenin upset 32nd seed Lauren Davis 7-5 7-5 to reach the second round of a grand slam for the first time in her career.
