Venus Williams Earns 700th Career Win with Victory vs. Julia Goerges

Venus Williams entered the prestigious 700 club as she won her 700 career match in the second round of Wuhan Open against German qualifier Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-3.The 35 year old however was not aware of her achievement as she said that she would have been nervous had she known about the record before.

Venus, 35 and winning despite having to fight a chronic disease, said she had no idea she had that number of victories until after her 6-4, 6-3 Wuhan win.

In the day’s first upset, Roberta Vinci beat defending champion and third-seeded Petra Kvitova 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Belarussian Victoria Azarenka was another early casualty, retiring from her match with Britain’s Johanna Konta because of a leg injury while trailing 6-4 1-0.

If Williams is able to hit a milestone or two along the way, as she did Tuesday, that will just add more chapters to the incredible story she’s already written for herself on and off of the tennis court.

Venus, now, joins the likes of Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Virginia Wade, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, Lindsey Davenport, Conchita Martínez, and Serena Williams among the other players to have crossed the 700-win mark in the Open Era.

“I had some luck because I think she missed a few shots today, and it gave me some openings”, Williams said.

Muguruza is in the running to make it to the top-eight Women’s Tennis Association Finals in Singapore at the end of this month, with the field looking increasingly open after the Wuhan upsets.

The pivotal moment in the first set came in the fifth game, when a succession of thumping forehand winners helped Williams come from 15-40 down to break.

Muguruza will next face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-2.

Konta’s quarter-final run means she has now won 21 of her last 22 matches. It was a good match, a quality player.