Venus Williams won the first ever professional tennis game in Zhuhai defeating fellow American, Madison Keys in a hard-hitting three set encounter: 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. The WTA Elite Trophy will be played in Zhuhai through 2019 and features twelve players ranked between 9 and 20. It replaces the smaller WTA Tournament of Champions, which was held in Bali from 2009-2011 and then in Sofia from 2012-2014. Williams is the top seed at this season ending event. The world number 11 won the Wuhan title last month and the Auckland crown Last January. Keys’, ranked 19, best results in 2015 were reaching the final in Charleston and the semifinals at the Australian Open.
Williams and Keys faced each other in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open earlier this year, with Keys winning in three tight sets. The two had also met at the 2013 Charleston quarterfinals, a close match which Williams won in straight sets. Today’s encounter was also tightly contested for the first two sets. The experience and mental strength of the seven-time Grand Slam champion helped Williams to take the deciding set easily.
The first set began with three consecutive breaks of serve followed by two hold at love, with the twenty-year old Keys up a break, 3-2. Williams was unable to convert two break point chances in the sixth game and was then broken at love giving Keys a 5-2 edge. The thirty-five year-old kept her hopes alive by breaking Keys’ serve in the eighth game only to lose her serve in the ninth game to give the set to Keys. There were six breaks of serve in the nine games of the first set. Williams did not win any of her seven second service points and only won only 47% of her first service points. In addition to William’s inability to hold serve, big groundstrokes by both players and return winners by Keys marked the set.
The second set highlighted high quality tennis with big serves, powerful groundstokes and beautiful passing shots. Williams got off to a good start in the second set taking the first two games. Keys got the break back in the sixth game landing some risky shots. In the seventh game, Williams took advantage of opportunities afforded her by a couple of loose balls by Keys and a forehand return winner to break again and take the lead 4-3. An easy hold for Williams confirmed the break with three backhand errors by Keys and ace for Williams. The young American then won the next three games with good aggressive tennis to go ahead 6-5, forcing Venus to serve to stay in the match. Williams was equal to the task and held under pressure to get to the tiebreak, which she won to force a decider.
After two tight games, both won by Williams, the match started to slip away from Keys and Venus jumped to a 5-0 lead. Errors crept into Keys’ game and she won only 42% of her service points. Williams improved her service point won to 64%. Keys held in the sixth game to avoid a bagel, but Venus closed out the match in the seventh game with three big serves.
Williams was all smiles in her post match interview. “What a competitive match today! This was a perfect match to start the tournament. Madison and I, we play so similar, it was a big match and I came so close to losing it. I’m so happy to be standing here as the winner, I feel really lucky… For sure the experience matters. I enjoy every win and I learn from every loss.”
Next up in Group A for each player is Saisai Zheng of China who was in attendance at the match today.
