Venus Williams, 43, reveals she received “a lot of encouraging words” from Serena Williams shortly after her impressive win over Veronika Kudermetova in Cincinnati. Venus, now ranked at No 533 and being a wildcard in Cincinnati, upset No 16 seed Kudermetova 6-4 7-5 to end her three-match losing streak.

After the match, Venus revealed how Serena – who retired from pro tennis after last year’s US Open – is supporting her. “She texted me after. She had a lot of encouraging words to say. She just is encouraging me to, you know, just to rise to be my best, because she believes in me and she knows what I have inside of me.

It’s nice to have obviously her, because she knows and she knows what position I’m in and what it’s like to be in this position. She knows what it’s like to have something to give, but, like, you just need that opportunity.

So, it’s nice that she believes in me,” Venus said.

Venus Williams received words of encouragement from Serena Going into the match, Venus Williams was undoubtedly the underdog against Kudermetova. In the first set, Kudermetova was up by a double-break and had a 4-1 lead before Williams won the next five games to steal the opener from the Russian.

Something similar happened in the second set as Williams was 1-5 down before winning the next six games to clinch a two-set win. En route to stealing the second set from Kudermetova, Williams also saved two set points.”I think at some point when you’re down a double break, you start to think, ‘Well, I at least want to just hold serve for the rest of this set.’

Simple thoughts like that. Then you get a little bit closer. You’re like, ‘Okay, maybe I just want to win another point.’ Definitely some big holes today that I usually don’t play from. … But that’s tennis. That’s what’s so exciting,” Williams reflected.