Venus Williams To Partner-Up With Riley Opelka At US Open Mixed Doubles
The legendary Venus Williams was handed a wildcard entry into the mixed doubled event of the US Open as the American gears up to partner Riley Opelka at the Flushing Meadows in the final Grand Slam event of the year.
Williams, who made a comeback to competitive tennis after a sixteen-month hiatus at the DC Open last week, could also request for a wildcard in the singles event of the hard court major.
Williams triumphed over her compatriot Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the WTA event. This victory marked her 819th career WTA singles win for the seven-time Grand Slam champion, achieved in 97 minutes at the first US Open hardcourt tune-up event on home soil.
It was her first WTA singles triumph in over 700 days, with her last victory occurring against Veronika Kudermetova in the first round at Cincinnati in August 2023.
Williams became the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova, who was 47 at Wimbledon in 2004, and the oldest player to compete in a WTA tour-level match since Japan's Kimiko Date, who was 46 in Tokyo in 2017.
However, her return was cut short as she was defeated by Magdalena Frech in the second round of the women's singles event with a score of 6-2, 6-2.
Eight teams received direct entry into the field by combined singles rankings. These included top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy, the reigning US Open, Wimbledon, and Australian Open singles champion, paired with American Emma Navarro.
Other duos making the field based on rankings included Britain's fifth-ranked Jack Draper and Spain's Paula Badosa, Germany's third-ranked Alexander Zverev and Swiss Belinda Bencic, fourth-ranked American Taylor Fritz and Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, Dane Holger Rune and American Amanda Anisimova, 2021 US Open winner Daniil Medvedev and fellow Russian Mirra Andreeva, Americans Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul, and Poland's Iga Swiatek and Norway's Casper Ruud.
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Other wildcard entry teams include five-time Grand Slam singles champion and world number two Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with Britain's Emma Raducanu, Americans Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe, world women's doubles number one Taylor Townsend and fellow American Ben Shelton, Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, and Serbians Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic, who has won a record 24 men's Grand Slam singles titles.
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July 30, 2025, 08:37 IST
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