Venus, Clijsters fall as seeds march on at US Open

NAMPA/AFP



Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters bowed out of the US Open at the first hurdle on Tuesday as seeded players dominated the women's draw for a second straight day.

Hours after younger sister Serena had battled into the second round, 40-year-old Venus was back in the spotlight in what was an incredible 22nd US Open appearance.

But Venus, who reached the final of the US Open on her debut at the tournament in 1997, was beaten in the first round for the first time in her glittering career by Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

Muchova, the 20th seed, had too much poise for Venus en-route to a 6-3, 7-5 win.



Time's running out

While Venus knows that time is running out on her career at the top level - she has not gone further than the third round at a Slam event since 2017 - she insisted afterwards that she plans to continue playing, starting with this month's French Open at Roland Garros.

“I love this game,” she said. “I'm good at what I do. It's easy to stay motivated and excited about doing something so amazing. Not many people get to do this.

“But I look forward to a few days off. It's been a lot of work. Looking forward to just having a little bit of a rest before the clay courts.”