Venus Williams makes to Australian Open round 4 in 14 years

Ranked No. 17 in world tennis, Venus Williams beat Anastasiya P'yankova, ranked 27th, 2-0 at the women's singles round 8 held in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday, allowing Williams to post a record of entering round 4 as the oldest in women's singles in a major competition in 23 years since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994. Williams is 36 years and 221 days old, while Navratilova was 37 years and 258 days old in 1994.

Having entered her 21st ever semifinals in major competition singles, Williams went to round 4 last year, showing that age is not important.

Williams will compete with Coco Vandeweghe, world's 35th ranking who emerged as a mighty player in this competition, at the finals. Vandeweghe is 11 years younger than Williams, and has beaten world No. 1 Angelique Kerber at round 16 and also beat Garbine Muguruza, ranking 7th, at round 8 with 2-0 (6-4, 6-0) for her first ever entry into round 4 in a major competition.

Vandeweghe's grandmother was Miss America in 1952 and her mother was a national swimmer at the U.S. Olympics team. With her strong serve as the major weapon, she has recorded the season's highest 306 serves at the World Tennis Association Tour in 2014. As Williams was known to be as Vandeweghe's role model, world tennis fans have expressed growing interest in the competition.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com