Venus bridges age gap to reach 2nd round

Venus Williams of the US serves against China’s Peng Shuai during their women’s singles first round match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on October 3, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

Veteran campaigner Venus Williams dug deep to grind her way into the Australian Open second round Monday, beating plucky Ukrainian youngster Kateryna Kozlova in two gruelling sets.

The world number 17, who played her first Australian Open in 1998 and turned professional in 1994, the year her opponent was born, came through the near two-hour marathon 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.

“It’s never easy playing the first round,” said the American, who turns 37 this year and is competing in her 73rd Grand Slam, extending her Open-era record.

“I was just trying to find my rhythm. She didn’t make it easy so I’m happy to be through.”

Williams pulled out of the lead-up Auckland Classic with an arm injury following her first-round match, setting back her Grand Slam preparations, but she was still too good for the unseeded 22-year-old Kozlova.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion — the oldest woman in the draw and seeded 13 at Melbourne Park — battled back in a seesawing first set to take it to a tiebreaker on Rod Laver Arena.

She narrowly got the upper hand to win it with an ace after a tough 67 minutes in hot conditions, pumping her fist in relief before wrapping herself in an ice towel at the changeover.

The second set was equally tight before Williams got a break to make it 6-5 then wrapped up the match, to the delight of the centre court crowd.

She next faces either Swiss qualifier Stefanie Voegele or Japan’s Kurumi Nara.