Shining, twirling and moving on.
After upsetting No. 6 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez in their opener, Leylah Fernandez and Venus Williams kept their eyes on the prize in Round 2, overcoming Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi 7-6(1), 6-1, to advance to the third round. Eikeri and Hozumi led by a break in the first but couldn’t maintain the advantage, as a boisterous crowd inside Louis Armstrong Stadium cheered on the fan-favorite American-Canadian duo. Williams was enjoying the atmosphere so much she notched a career first, according to her: gesturing to the crowd to get up and make some more noise. (Unfortunately, we cannot comb through 30 years of classic matches to confirm this.)
“I actually have never done that,” Williams said in their post-match interview. “We were down, so we wanted the energy that you guys bring. We needed that, thank you!”
Williams and Fernandez also continued their newfound tradition of individually twirling on court following the win, a nod to Williams’ signature victory celebration in singles.
“You have motivated me to keep going on this journey through the good and the bad,” Fernandez told her partner on-court. “Seeing you playing out here having fun, playing because you love the sport, it’s motivating and inspirational.”
The pair will next face the winner of the match between No. 12 seeds Ekaterina Alexandrova and Shuai Zhang and all-British duo Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal.
Less than 24 hours removed from dueling in a night match inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, both Taylor Townsend and Mirra Andreeva were back on court with their respective partners to sail through their Round 2 doubles matches. Townsend and Katerina Siniakova—the No. 1 seeds in the draw—dispatched Alycia Parks and Dayana Yastremska, 6-3, 6-3, while Andreeva and Diana Shnaider—the No. 5 seeds—took out Storm Hunter and Desirae Krawczyk, 6-1, 6-3.
On the men’s side, No. 2 seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic survived a scare, coming back from a set down to dismiss unseeded team Diego Hidalgo and Arjun Kadhe and avoid taking an opening round exit a la top seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool. Arevalo and Pavic broke their opponents just twice throughout the course of the entire match, and one of those breaks came at the perfect time: in the last game.
The No. 3 seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten were not so lucky, as Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase sent the reigning Australian Open champions packing in a three-set, two-hour-and-31-minute thriller, 6-7(5), 7-6(9), 7-5. Frantzen and Haase saved three match points in the second set tiebreak to ultimately triumph in three.
A day after wild-card recipients and junior players Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick shocked tour journeymen David Goffin and Alexandre Muller to advance, another wild-card duo featuring another Cooper earned a second-round berth. With a sea of spectators decked out in Blue Devil gear on Court 11, Duke University standouts Theodore Winegar and Cooper Williams—who earned their wild card based on results at the American Collegiate Player Wild Card Playoffs in June—outlasted the all-Czech team of Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl, 7-6(7), 6-4. Next up, they’ll face a tough task: last year’s finalists, the No. 4 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. The all-German duo snuck past five-time Grand Slam doubles champion Nicolas Mahut and his quick-serving partner Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 7-6(4), 7-5.
