WELLINGTON: Multiple Grand Slam winners Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova are set to resume their 16-year rivalry after being drawn Saturday to face each other in the first round of next week's Auckland WTA Classic. Tournament top seed Williams, 38, and Kuznetsova, 34, are in a competitive half of the draw in which the veterans are competing against the rising stars of tennis, including American teen sensations Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff as well as 22-year-old Latvian Jelena Ostapenko. Williams leads Kuznetsova 10-3 in their head-to-heads dating back to 2004 and has won 23 Grand Slams compared to two for the Russian. The 15-year-old Gauff, who hit the headlines with her first round win over Venus Williams at Wimbledon last year, opens against World number 56 and 2019 Auckland semi-finalist Viktoria Kuzmova, while Anisimova has been drawn against Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova. Wozniacki will also team up with Serena Williams in the doubles for the first time.

Source: New Strait Times January 04, 2020 03:33 UTC