ESPN News Services
Aug 28, 2025, 05:48 PM ET
NEW YORK -- Venus Williams won a women's doubles match at the US Open for the first time in more than a decade -- and this time without her sister, Serena.
Williams, 45, teamed with Leylah Fernandez on Thursday to defeat the sixth-seeded pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Williams did her signature twirl-and-wave when it was over and called Fernandez, who is 22, "the best partner I ever played with -- outside of Serena."
Williams and Fernandez, the 2021 singles runner-up at Flushing Meadows, were heavy fan favorites at a nearly full Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the chair umpire had to ask the crowd multiple times to keep quiet.
The spectators gave Williams and Fernandez a standing ovation after they claimed the opening tiebreaker despite trailing 5-2 in that set -- and rose again to cheer after the match ended.
There were chants of "Here we go, Venus, here we go!" and a sign in the stands read, "Welcome to the Williams show."
"Wow," Williams, who was awarded a wild-card entry into the women's doubles draw, said in her on-court interview. "Thank you, you guys. Thank you for showing up for us."
She hadn't won a women's doubles match in New York since 2014, when she and Serena made it to the quarterfinals, or at any Grand Slam tournament since the 2018 French Open.
The last of the sisters 14 major championships in women's doubles came at Wimbledon in 2016.
The older Williams also has won seven Grand Slam titles in singles and another two in mixed doubles.
She had been off the tour for 16 months until returning to action by playing singles and doubles at the Citi Open in July after a 16-month absence. She defeated Peyton Stearns, then ranked No. 35 in the world, to become the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match.
Williams also played at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month and in the US Open mixed doubles tournament last week with Reilly Opelka, losing in the first round. This is the first major Williams has competed in all three events (singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles) since 1998 Wimbledon.
In singles, Williams, the oldest person to play singles at the US Open since 1981, pushed 11th-seeded Karolina Muchova to three sets before bowing out Monday night in her 25th US Open main draw appearance -- the most by any player since the Open era began.
Thursday's contest was the first for Williams in doubles at a major since the 2022 US Open, Serena's final tournament.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
