Former US Open champion Venus Williams ensured that she remained in the hunt for the world number one ranking. The ninth seed recorded a 7-5, 6-4 victory over talented young Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin. Williams will now face Maria Sakkari for a place in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Friday.
87 matches needed to be completed on Day three of the US Open as rain wrecked havoc yesterday, halting proceedings. There were first round matches that needed to be completed from the top half in both the men’s and women’s singles draw. Also, the second round matches got underway from the bottom half of the draw.
Nonetheless, five-time grand slam champion Williams is searching for a first Grand Slam singles title in nine years after coming up short at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. She kicked off proceedings in the evening session inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams held to love and she had the chance to break the 20-year-old’s serve but the Frenchwoman remained strong, fending off two break points in the early going in her first match in the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Both players settled into the match on their serve, and Williams drew first blood by breaking Dodin’s serve to lead 4-2. The former two-time US Open champion, who hasn’t won the title in New York since 2001, recorded another hold to love by producing a thunderous forehand winner down the line.
However, Dodin who is currently ranked at 48 in the world, two spots off her career-high of 46, which she achieved back in June, continued to fight. She saved a break point, and halted the run of games against her.
Out of nowhere, the 20-year-old broke Williams’ serve, when she was serving for the opening set as an erratic Williams committed unforced errors. The opening set was far from finished as she gained a helping hand from the ninth seed who continued to spray unforced errors.
Moreover, the two-time US Open champion held to love, and she restored order, as she did not need a first set tiebreaker to separate the duo. She broke Dodin’s serve in the 12th game of the first set, 7-5 in 44 minutes.
At the end of the first set, the former world number one took a quick bathroom break, and she continued, where she left off upon her return. The veteran comfortably held serve to get the second set up and running.
Furthermore, Dodin was under immense pressure as she faced two break points which she saved but Williams made no mistake by converting the third break point, that was presented to her as Dodin committed an untimely double fault.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was in the zone as she consolidated the break with booming forehand winners down the line doing the job to lead 3-0.
The alarm bells were ringing for the top 50 player as Williams was looking for the insurance break which she failed to convert, and she got onto the scoreboard with an ace down the T.
The finishing line was in sight as she extended her lead to 4-1, both players continued to hold onto their serves towards the business end of the set.
It was a strange end to the match as the former world number one was leading 5-3 but she had a poor service game to close out the match as she trailed 0-40. However, she found two first serves to save two break points but she committed a double fault to get the second set evenly poised at 5-4.
Nevertheless, it was the last game which Dodin would win as the seven-time Grand Slam champion stamped down her authority, clinching victory in one hour and 26 minutes to the delight of her home crowd with a forehand return winner down the line.
The two-time US Open champion talked about her first two round opponents in the press conference. “Yeah I mean, I played two big servers in both rounds. When you get your opportunities, you have to close on them, then sometimes they don’t come back so… Today by the stats the match was super clean. Obviously, there was an opportunity there to get a 2-2 match perhaps. But you know, I feel like each round is a time to improve.”
Williams, also spoke about her upcoming third round clash with Greece’s Maria Sakkari. “It will be a little bit different than the first two matches, especially in terms of the service games. We did play a well-contested match, I’m going to have a lot of opportunities and I’m going to want to capitalize on them. I’m, looking forward to it. Good night, Y’all.”
