Venus Williams and Janice Tjen beat Lyudmyla Kichenok and Makoto Ninomiya 6-1, 6-3 in Guangzhou on 28 October, according to the WTA match record. The victory takes the pair into the doubles semi-finals and gives Williams her first appearance at that stage in a decade.
Williams and Tjen control the Guangzhou quarter-final
The WTA's completed quarter-final record lists Tjen and Williams as the winners in straight sets. Kichenok and Ninomiya took one game in the opening set and three in the second. The WTA's match data records a duration of 58 minutes and 46 seconds on 28 October. Its video summary also notes that the winners conceded only four games.
Williams and Tjen entered the event as a new pairing. The official WTA video posted after the match identifies this as Williams's first doubles semi-final since 2016. That milestone comes from a quarter-final result, not a title or a completed tournament run. Their place in the last four is confirmed; the outcome of the semi-final remains open.
SportsRivo checked the separate WTA first-round match record to trace the route. Tjen and Williams had beaten Ekaterine Gorgodze and Kimberley Zimmermann 6-0, 7-5 on 26 October. The quarter-final brought another straight-sets win against a different pair. The first-round second set was closer than either set against Kichenok and Ninomiya, according to the official scores.
The partnership follows Williams's Guangzhou wild card
The WTA reported on 28 September that Guangzhou had awarded Williams singles and doubles wild cards and that she would partner Indonesia's Tjen. That announcement made the pairing official before the draw began. The first-round result confirmed that they played together, while the quarter-final established their place in the semi-finals.
The same WTA announcement described Guangzhou as Williams's first Asian event since Tianjin. It also noted that she had played doubles with Serena Williams at the US Open and Cincinnati earlier in the season. The Guangzhou result is therefore a new run with Tjen, following those appearances with her sister. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts in China, according to the WTA event listing.
What the quarter-final win changes
- Williams reaches her first doubles semi-final since 2016, according to the WTA's 28 October video report.
- Tjen and Williams have won both Guangzhou doubles matches in straight sets, as the WTA's 26 and 28 October score records show.
- Kichenok and Ninomiya are out of the doubles draw after the quarter-final defeat; Tjen and Williams remain in contention for the final.
A semi-final is next in Guangzhou
The WTA's 28 October video summary confirms that Tjen and Williams have advanced to the last four. Their semi-final is the next stage of their doubles run. A win there would take them into the Guangzhou doubles final.
Source: WTA