Key events
First set: Williams 3-2 Muchova* (*denotes next server)
Williams rips back-to-back backhand winners for 30-love, followed by an 87mph service winner. After a double fault, the American then closes out the hold with a 108mph ace. She’s won 15 of the last 20 points with eight winners and two unforced errors.
Williams breaks in fourth game of first set!
First set: *Williams 2-2 Muchova (*denotes next server)
Muchova opens her second service game with a double fault before pulling back with a forehand winner and a 108mph ace. But Williams get the better of a 10-stroke exchange for 30-all, then stakes her first break-point chance of the night when Muchova misfires off the backhand side for 30-40. The crowd swells. And Williams converts with a forehand at the net. Back on level terms in the opener.
First set: Williams 1-2 Muchova* (*denotes next server)
Another gnarly service game for Willams, who makes her fourth, fifth and sixth unforced errors to go triple break point down again. She’s really having trouble finding her range early and surely there are nerves at play. She saves the first break point coming in to net after pushing Muchova wide with a sharply angled backhand, then the second when Muchova misfires on a passing shot. Then Williams saves the third for deuce with a sizzling backhand winner clocked at 77mph off the ground. After a couple of deuce points, Williams crunches her first ace (114mph down the middle) followed by a forehand winner at the net to hold and get on the board.
First set: *Williams 0-2 Muchova (*denotes next server)
Muchova calmly backs up the break with a straightforward hold, cracking a 97mph ace down the middle along the way. A promising start for the Czech.
Muchova breaks in first game of first set!
First set: Williams 0-1 Muchova* (*denotes next server)
Williams quickly goes down love-30 on her serve after back-to-back unforced errors on the forehand. She pauses before her toss and the crowd swells in support. She then double-faults to go love-40 and triple break point down. She saves the first of them with a short point behind a booming serve, but Muchova rips a forehand early in the next point to ruthlessly snatch the early break.
The players have completed their tunnel interviews. Now they’ve come through the tunnel onto Ashe, which is a little under half-full with the crowds in the fountain plaza still making their way inside. Chair umpire Katarzyna Radwan-Cho oversees the coin toss. Muchova, wearing an all-purple kit, calls tails. It’s heads and Williams, in a classic all-white tennis dress with matching visor and sneakers, elects to serve first. We should be under way in about five minutes after the players go through their warm-ups.
Preamble
It is hard to imagine the US Open without Venus Williams. For more than a quarter of a century the American has been as much a part of the Flushing Meadows landscape as blue courts, Honey Deuce cocktails and Arthur Ashe Stadium, all of which her 31-year professional career predates. Tonight she will step onto that court for a record-extending 25th main-draw appearance at her home grand slam, facing the 11th seed, Karolína Muchová of the Czech Republic, in an opening-round clash between two players at very different stages of their careers.
Williams, now 45 years old and ranked outside the world’s top 600, has long since guaranteed her place in tennis history. She lifted the US Open trophy in 2000 and 2001, part of a haul of seven major singles titles that also includes five at Wimbledon. Her power-baseline game helped redefine women’s tennis when she broke through as a teenager, and while the results have inevitably slowed, her appetite for competition has not dimmed. This will be only her third tournament since Miami last year, following tune-ups in Washington DC and Cincinnati, but her presence alone carries significance. The last time she faced a top-20 opponent was back in 2023 at Cincinnati, where she beat world No 16 Veronika Kudermetova.
The challenge tonight could hardly be steeper. Muchová, the world No 13, has become one of the tour’s most complete and dangerous performers when healthy. She won their only previous meeting in the second round of the 2020 US Open and has since compiled an impressive résumé on the biggest stages. A French Open finalist in 2023, she has reached the last four in New York for two years running, including last September when she was stopped by Jessica Pegula. Her all-court game, mixing variety, touch and tactical intelligence, has proved a match for the very best, even if injuries have slowed her momentum at times.
Muchová’s rise over the past 12 months has been striking: she was ranked No 52 this time last year, but now sits on the edge of the top 10. Her first-round record at majors is solid (15-9 overall, 5-2 at the US Open), and she will be strongly favored to advance. Yet Williams has made a career of defying the odds and delivering under the lights in New York. Whether this is another fleeting cameo or a turn-back-the-clock performance from an all-time great, the scene is set for an intriguing encounter that blends nostalgia with present-day ambition.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his lookahead to Venus Williams’s record-extending 25th appearance at the US Open.
