Venus Williams has advanced to round three of the U.S. Open. But it was no walk in the park. Venus defeated precococious Canadian teen, Rebecca Marino — playing only her second ever slam level match, after being pushed to her limits in the first set. Marino’s powerful groundstrokes and big forehand gave Venus a run for her money, but in a first-set tie break, she did what champions do and made magic to get it done. An amazing net dual and a 126 mph serve settled the tie in her favor.
Order was restored in the second set, with Venus taking the match in straights, 7-6, 6-3. The win gave her her 201st grand slam match win, putting her amongst the ranks of greats Steffi Graf, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in total victories.
Venus will next take on Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella, who defeated 32nd seed Tvetsana Pironkova to earn her spot in round three. Venus was chomping at the bit to get a do-over with Pironkova, since the unseeded Bulgarian recently defeated her at Wimbledon. She ended the five-time Wimbledon champion’s three-year streak of at least making the final in London. She’ll now have to wait for her revenge.
With the two wins under her belt, the seven-time grand slam winner looks to have a clear path to at least the semi-finals. The remaining potential match-ups favor Venus — at least statistically speaking, barring a flare-up of her recurring knee problem.
She’s the only seeded American woman in this year’s tournament. –gerald radford
