Venus Williams upsets World No 16 Veronika Kudermetova as weather plays havoc in Cincinnati
- Planet Sport writer
- 15 August 2023
The 43-year-old recorded her biggest win on Tour since 2019 to advance to the second round of the Western and Southern Open.
Venus Williams fought through two rain delays to earn her first top 20 victory in four years with a straight sets upset of Veronika Kudermetova in Cincinnati.
Williams, 43, defeated the world number 16 6-4 7-5 to progress to the second round of the Western and Southern Open.
The world number 533's last top 20 victim was Kiki Bertens, who Williams overcame at the same tournament in 2019.
"Definitely satisfaction from today is [from] all the work that goes into just being here at all," Williams said, after her win.
"I did my best to be here as soon as possible in the best form possible I could bring in that amount of time. So that makes it satisfying, to be able to get a win with very little time to prepare."
Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki will continue her return from a three-year absence in an opening round clash with lucky loser Varvara Gracheva, after Elina Svitolina withdrew from the tournament due to a foot injury.
In the men's draw, Dan Evans' opening match in Cincinnati was among the fixtures to be delayed after rain wreaked havoc on the opening round of the Western and Southern Open.
The British number two was scheduled to play Italy's Lorenzo Musetti in his first round match on Monday, but was ultimately unable to take the court.
The match is among a host of fixtures to be rescheduled for Tuesday, with only five matches able to be completed on day two of the tournament.
Some first-round matches that were completed saw Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime overcame Italy's Matteo Berrettini 4-6 6-2 6-3, while Chilean Nicolas Jarry also came back from a set down to beat Roman Safiullin.
Dusan Lajovic, Emil Ruusuvuori and Jordan Thompson all progressed through to the second round with straight-set wins.
