In what looks like her final Grand Slam if not her illustrious career, Venus Williams bowed out in the very first round of US Open 2026 women’s singles, in a match that start past midnight and finished just after 2 AM at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The oldest of Williams sisters, Venus lost to fellow American Sofia Kenin in her 26th US Open singles appearance.
The 46-year-old lost 6-2, 7-6 (6), which was also her 15th consecutive singles defeat dating to her last victory in Washington in July 2025. Venus has now lost six in a row at the US Open since winning in the first round in 2019. She will next pair up with sister Serena Williams in women’s doubles.
Venus and Kenin waited extraordinarily long to take the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, delayed by Novak Djokovic’s 4-hour, 36-minute defeat to Mariano Navone that threatened to move them next door to Louis Armstrong Stadium. The men’s action ended just in time to play on Ashe – but not before making some history.
At 12:13 a.m., it was the latest start to a match at the US Open, six minutes later than the previous record of Aryna Sabalenka against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 32 in 2024.
What happened in Venus Williams vs Sofia Kenin show?
Kenin needed just 32 minutes to win the first set, but Venus took advantage of mistakes and made some shots in the second that gave the late-staying crowd reason to cheer, rallying from down 4-2 to force a tiebreak before losing several set points and striking the ball into the net to end it.
Concluding at 2:01 AM local time, it became the latest finish for a first-round match in US Open history. It is the third-latest for a women’s match at any stage of the tournament. Venus is a quarter-century removed from her second of back-to-back championships in New York. She also won Wimbledon five times from 2000-08 to give her seven Grand Slam titles.
Other important results
On the other hand, Russian Daniil Medvedev had crashed out in a chaotic first-round defeat a year ago but was all business on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, downing French qualifier Hugo Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to quieten doubts after a frustrating run-up to the tournament.
Dozens of ticketholders were lined up long before the action kicked off and the home crowd was rewarded as world number three Jessica Pegula beat Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-2 in the first match at the showpiece stadium. Pegula next plays Sofia Kenin.
Twice Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova earlier became the first seeded player to exit the tournament, saving six match points before succumbing to Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6(4), 6-2 on the outer courts.
Italian Jasmine Paolini survived a scare to beat Slovenia’s Veronika Erjavec 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the opener at to set up a meeting with compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini. Czech Jiri Lehecka kicked off the action on the Grandstand with a 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta before Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk swatted aside Australian Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-1.
Kostyuk was joined in the next round by compatriot Elina Svitolina, who eased past Solana Sierra 6-1 6-2. Former champion Marin Cilic and 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud pulled out due to injuries shortly after the tournament got underway.
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