Venus Williams performed brilliantly for USA in the Hopman Cup encounter against South Africa. Because of Venus’ effort, USA defeated South Africa by 2-1.

The USA team didn’t have a very good start. In the first singles match, Kevin Anderson defeated John Isner in a close game by 7-6(0), 7-6(5). But, Venus brought her team back into the match by winning the next singles match. She defeated Chanelle Scheepers by 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Then, in the final mixed doubles match, Williams and Isner defeated the South African pair easily in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-2 and won the encounter.

In the singles match against Scheepers, Venus was looking rusty in the first set. The first eight games of the first set went with the serve and the scores were levelled at 4-4 at that stage. Scheepers got a breakthrough in the ninth game and then, served out the next game to seal the first set.

Venus lifted the standard of her game in the second set. She broke Scheepers’ service twice and won the second set easily by 6-2. In the third and final set, Venus played even more aggressively. She won the first four games on the trot to take a lead of 4-0. After that, it was not easy for Scheepers to make a comeback. She got a breakthrough towards the end of the set, but, that was not enough. Venus eventually won the set by 6-3 and finished off the match.

In the post match interview, Venus said, “I was playing after a while, so, initially, I was not able to hit the ball fluently. But, slowly, I got back into rhythm.”

“I was under a bit of pressure as we had lost the first match and after losing the first set, I got even more nervous. But, fortunately, I managed to hold my nerves in the next two sets.”