By ADAM ZAGORIA
Serena and Venus are headed for a third-round showdown at the US Open on Friday night.
After Venus Williams took care of business Wednesday afternoon by dispatching Italy’s Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 7-5, Serena Williams held serve by winning her second-round match against Germany’s Carina Witthöft, 6-2, 6-2, under the lights in Ashe.
The sisters will square off at 7 p.m. Friday in Arthur Ashe Stadium, ahead of the match between Juan Martin del Potro and Fernando Verdasco.
“It’s obviously a tough match and it’s so young in the tournament,” Serena, who turns 37 next month, said on court of playing her big sister, 38. “But it is what it is. It’s not the end of the world. We would rather have met later, but we’re both going to come out per usual and do our best and play in front of you guys.
“Normally I would say cheer for me, but whoever you feel like, me or Venus, either one works.”
A familiar twirl…@serenawilliams defeats Witthöft 6-2, 6-2 under the lights…
She’ll face her sister in R3 in what will be the 30th installment of Serena/Venus!#USOpen pic.twitter.com/wjd1Uex617
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 30, 2018
Serena leads Venus 17-12 all-time, including 3-2 at the US Open. They have played in two US Open finals — splitting them in 2001 and ’02 — and have never met here before the fourth round.
Their most recent meeting in New York came in the 2015 quarterfinals where Serena won in three sets before losing to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals.
Their most recent tour meeting came in March at Indian Wells where Venus beat Serena in straight sets just several months after Serena had given birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia.
Venus hasn’t beaten Serena at a major in 10 years — since the 2008 Wimbledon final.
“The last time we played at the Australian, it was two against one, so….” Venus said during her on-court interview, referring to the fact that Serena was pregnant when they last played in a major, the 2017 Australian Open final.
“At least this time it will be fair. I hope that we get to play.”
Said Serena of that match: “Yes, the last time we played in a Grand Slam I may have had a little bit of an advantage. But seeing I don’t have that advantage this time, it’s going to be a little bit hard.”
Victorious Venus!@Venuseswilliams edges past Giorgi 6-4, 7-5 to reach R3!
She will face Witthöft or……Serena!#USOpen pic.twitter.com/hpbqUsSitO
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2018
Whoever wins the Serena-Venus matchup catches a major break because that sister won’t have to face No. 1 seed Simona Halep in the fourth round as expected. Halep was sent packing on Monday by Kaia Kanepi.
“I’ll do everything I can to recover and to be in this tournament,” said Venus, who beat former US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round on Monday. “Everyone’s playing well. Obviously, if I play Serena I would have played two US Open champions and it’s not even the semifinals yet, so it’s an interesting draw and I’m going to have to fight for it.”
Venus and Serena are each one win away from a 3rd-round meeting at the @usopen. My story in today’s @metronewyork pic.twitter.com/yzp0xN1ePn
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) August 29, 2018
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