Venus Williams shines in sun-soaked Birmingham
Tennis’s past and future took to the stage on the Ann Jones Centre Court as both Venus Williams and Linda Fruhvirtova secured passage into the next round at the LTA’s Rothesay Classic Birmingham, writes Taylor Toney-Green.
Rising star Fruhvirtova shone in her WTA main draw grass-court debut, taking out the former world No.3 Elina Svitolina in just under an hour, 6-2 6-0.
With the sport’s future stealing the show in the Czech teen, the women that walked before her were given a moment of their own in front of the Centre Court crowd.
Ann Jones, appearing on the court named after herself, was presented with a commemorative print celebrating the 50th anniversary of the WTA – an organisation she was a founding member of.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams graced the Edgbaston Priory Club for the first time since 2019 and showed glimpses of the talent that made her one of the greatest tennis players in the world.
The former-world No.1 closely edged the first set against free-hitting Camila Giorgi in the tiebreak before dropping the second which forced a decider.
With the match growine ever longer, Williams racquet skills and mental prowess continued to stand the test of time, recovering from losing her 4-1 lead in the third set to grit out the three-set win 7-6 (5), 4-6 7-6 (8) to earn her 100th career grass-court victory after over three hours of gruelling play.
Home favourite doubles pairing Freya Christie and Ali Collins provided the only British action of the day, battling past Cristina Bucsa and Makoto Ninomiya in the ten-point tiebreak to set up an encounter against No.2 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Marta Kostyuk in the second round.
If the Birmingham crowds have an appetite for British action, a banquet awaits tomorrow with five Brits set to feature.
Rothesay Open Nottingham champion Katie Boulter begins her first match as a WTA-tour champion against China’s Zhu Lin, followed by an all-British tussle between Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart.
British duo Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls begin play on Court 2 against Ulrikke Eikeri and Alexandra Panova.
Bookending the Brit feast on Ann Jones Centre Court will be the tournament’s top two seeds. The 2nd seed Jelena Ostapenko kicks off Tuesday’s action against highly promising Czech teen Linda Noskova and No.1 seed Barbora Krejcikova to face qualifier Bucsa.
