Venus Williams eliminated 16th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova at the start of the WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open

The tennis veteran Venus Williams (USA) brought the surprise in the first day of the WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, USA, defeating the 16th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) by 2-0 (6:4, 7:5) in 2:03 hours of play.

The match started perfectly for the Russian tennis player, who took a lead in the first set of 4:1 with two breaks. However, the former world’s number one Venus Williams won the next 5 games in a row to close the set by 6:4. Veronika Kudermetova made another strong start in the second set leading by 4:0 and then 5:1, but again entered into a bad series, losing the next 6 games in a ron to lose the set by 7:5.

Thus, the 43-years-old Venus Williams qualified for the second round of the Masters’ tournament, where will face the winner between Qinwen Zheng (China) and Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus).

Jasmine Paolini (Italy) also advanced to the second round of the WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open after defeating Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:1), as well as Sloane Stephens (USA), who eliminated Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Italy) by 2-0 (7:5, 6:2).

The Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova had a hard start in the tournament, defeating Celine Naef (Switzerland) by 2-1 (1:6, 6:4, 7:5) in 2:06 hours of play.

Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) also advanced to the second round of the tournament after a victory over Lin Zhu (China) by 2-0 (6:3, 7:5).