Venus Williams Draws Sofia Kenin in US Open First Round
The 46-year-old wild card entrant faces the 2020 Australian Open champion under the lights at Flushing Meadows on Sunday night.
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The Draw
Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin were drawn against each other in the first round of the singles at the 2026 US Open, the final Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season, held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York.
According to INQUIRER.net, Williams was given a wild card into the event at 46. The United States Tennis Association had initially held one spot back, which INQUIRER.net reports would surely have gone to Serena Williams had the six-time US Open champion wanted to play in singles after returning to tennis for the first time since 2022.
Serena, 44, decided to compete only in doubles. The USTA awarded that last wild card to Kenin over the weekend, and the random draw on Thursday then paired the two Americans together. A Williams sisters meeting in Round 1 was, as INQUIRER.net put it, a what-could-have-been.
Two Players Short of Wins
Both women arrive in poor form. Pennlive reports that Williams is 0-11 in singles this season, with a pair of first-round doubles wins across 12 events, in what it describes as her most active season since 2019.
The two sources give slightly different pictures of the hardcourt records. Last Word On Tennis says Venus is 0-9 on hardcourt this year and Kenin is 2-11, calling Kenin better, but only slightly.
Kenin is 27 and ranked No. 110 on the WTA Tour, according to pennlive. It reports she has one match win in three Grand Slams this season, a first-round victory at Wimbledon, where she also came close to upsetting sixth seed Amanda Anisimova.
Schedule and Wider Draw
Pennlive says the match is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, with television coverage on ESPN. Main draw play at the tournament began Sunday.
The winner of Williams against Kenin plays third seed Jessica Pegula in the second round, INQUIRER.net reports. Pegula opens against Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Elsewhere in the women's draw, two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, the top-ranked player, starts against Camila Osorio and could meet Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, the No. 6 seed, in the quarterfinals. The other projected quarterfinals are No. 2 Elena Rybakina against No. 8 Iga Swiatek, Pegula against No. 7 Karolina Muchova, and No. 4 Coco Gauff against No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, the French Open champion. The sources do not report a result of the Williams-Kenin match.
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