New York (AFP) – “Kinda chic to play with your sister in the US Open” — that’s the verdict of Venus Williams, who will launch a women’s doubles campaign alongside sister Serena on Friday in Flushing Meadows. The legendary sisters’ first doubles foray at Flushing Meadows in four years is sure to ignite the Arthur Ashe Stadium fans, who will also be treated to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and American hopes Jessica Pegula and Ben Shelton as they vie for fourth-round berths.
Women’s defending champion Aryna Sabalenka headlines the action on Louis Armstrong Stadium, continuing her quest to cap an erratic year with a third straight US Open title. The last woman to win three in a row was Serena Williams, who returned from a near four-year absence to play at Wimbledon. A knee injury suffered in singles there delayed her plans to play doubles with Venus, who is now eager to see what they can do. “I definitely will be focused on that and super excited about it,” the elder Williams sister said after losing her singles opener in New York.
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AFP Sport looks at three matches to watch on Day 6 of the US Open:
**Wu Yibing (CHN) v Carlos Alcaraz (ESP x2)**
Alcaraz leads head to head 1-0 — Coming back from a four-month injury layoff, Alcaraz has found that it’s not only his forehand that got a little rusty. The 23-year-old admitted that poor decision making contributed when he dropped the first set in what proved a four-set second-round win over Jaime Faria, an early miss on a break chance prompting him to rush things too much. “I just needed to play patient, to play long rallies, three, four, five shots, and then go for it,” he said, but added the extra time on court was in fact a good test of his healed wrist and overall fitness. Alcaraz, who won his seventh Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, can expect an aggressive approach from Wu, the 2017 US Open boys’ champion. Wu’s rise through the senior ranks has been disrupted by injury, but the 113th-ranked player looked sharp in straight-set wins in his first two matches.
**Serena Williams/Venus Williams (USA) v Chan Hao-Ching/Maya Joint (TPE/AUS x14)**
Venus and Serena Williams won two of their 14 Grand Slam doubles titles at the US Open, where they first teamed up in 1997. Their first doubles appearance together in a major since the 2022 US Open comes after 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena returned from almost four years away from professional tennis to play at Wimbledon. She suffered a knee injury in a first-round singles loss to Joint and had to scrap plans to play doubles with Venus at the All England Club. The sisters played together on a wild card in Cincinnati last month, falling in the first round to Payton Stearns and Marta Kostyuk.
**Aryna Sabalenka (BLR x1) v Kamilla Rakhimova (UZB)**
Sabalenka leads head to head 3-0 — World number one Aryna Sabalenka’s season hit the skids after back-to-back titles at Indian Wells and Miami. But the two-time defending champion has been red-hot in her first two matches at Flushing Meadows, including a 53-minute 6-1, 6-1 second-round victory over qualifier Polina Iatcenko. She’ll try to keep up the pace in what promises to be a tougher test against Uzbekistan’s Rakhimova, who looked impressive herself in a 6-3, 6-0 second-round win over Oksana Selekhmeteva. In the first round, she upset two-time Grand Slam singles champion Barbora Krejcikova, finally putting the win away on her seventh match point.
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