{"id":552558,"date":"2026-04-27T02:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/552558\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T02:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:09:20","slug":"venus-williams-and-katie-boulter-make-the-perfect-pair-following-first-round-fightback-at-madrid-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/552558\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus Williams and Katie Boulter make the perfect pair following first round fightback at Madrid Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US tennis star may have scored herself an invite to doubles partner Katie Boulter\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/p>\n

Katie Boulter of Great Britain and Venus Williams of United States celebrates winning a point against Xinyu Jiang of China and Yifan Xu of China in the Women’s Doubles Round of 32 match during the Mutua Madrid Open 2026.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Venus Williams claimed her first victory since the US Open alongside her doubles’ partner Katy Boulter, as the pair staged a dramatic fightback at the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n

Williams accepted British star Boulter\u2019s request to play together at the European tournament, with the scratch pairing securing a win against China\u2019s Jiang Xinyu and Xu Yifan.<\/p>\n

The opening round match saw the doubles pairing return from a set down, securing a 4-6 6-3 (10\/7) win in the opening round.<\/p>\n

Williams, 45, is on a 10-match losing streak in singles after falling again in the first round here, while she had not won a doubles match since reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open with Leylah Fernandez last summer.<\/p>\n

The pair clearly enjoyed the experience, with Williams saying: \u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to happen when you play with a new person.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not like you get to practise weeks before, you get to practise 30 minutes before and then you are just put right in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great energy out there and I think it can only get better because now we\u2019ve gone past the first hurdle, we\u2019ve played together so now we know each other, and it\u2019s also building trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/p>\n

Katie Boulter of Great Britain looks on against Xinyu Jiang of China and Yifan Xu of China in the Women’s Doubles Round of 32 match during the Mutua Madrid Open 2026 tournament celebrated at La Caja Magica.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Boulter added: \u201cIt was great, it was so much fun. Obviously just to have the privilege of being on court and also being on the same side of the net \u2013 I don\u2019t want to be on the other side of the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really nice to get the chance to play with Venus and I enjoyed every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a big year on and off court for Boulter, with her wedding to fellow player Alex De Minaur fast approaching.<\/p>\n

Williams married Italian actor and model Andrea Preti late last year in a lavish affair in Italy and Florida, and she is happy to give Boulter the wisdom of her experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if she\u2019s taking my advice,\u201d said Williams. \u201cI hope she does. My only tip for her is to take your time, you don\u2019t get that moment back and you\u2019ve just got to enjoy it fully and take some days off.<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/p>\n

Katie Boulter of Great Britain and Venus Williams of United States are seen talking against Xinyu Jiang of China and Yifan Xu of China in the Women’s Doubles Round of 32.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the time of my life. I\u2019m still in withdrawal. It was the best time. I waited a while so that made it even more rewarding to get there in a later stage in life. You get to where you\u2019re supposed to be when you\u2019re supposed to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boulter joked she would give Williams De Minaur\u2019s number, adding when asked if Williams had secured an invite: \u201cYou never know \u2013 she\u2019s coming!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so fun, so get ready,\u201d laughed Williams in reply.<\/p>\n

Juggling wedding preparation and a hectic tour schedule has proved challenging for De Minaur and Boulter, who said: \u201cIt\u2019s interesting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had much free time to myself but luckily I\u2019ve got a lot of great people around me helping me. I think we\u2019ve done the majority of it and now it\u2019s just about turning up and the small finer details.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve come to the conclusion, no matter what happens, good, bad, anything, it\u2019s going to be the best day of my life and I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams also has off-court duties to attend to, with the former world number one unable to play in the Italian Open in Rome next month because she is co-chairing the Met Gala in New York alongside Beyonce, Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband and I are gutted but, once you get that opportunity, you\u2019ve got to take it, so I\u2019m going to trade the racket in that week,\u201d said Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US tennis star may have scored herself an invite to doubles partner Katie Boulter\u2019s wedding. Katie Boulter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-552558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}