Serena, Venus to clash for 30th time as Cornet shrugs off US Open sexism storm

Serena and Venus Williams set up a 30th career meeting yesterday as the US Open reeled from a sexism row sparked when a player changed her shirt on court.

Six-time champion Serena eased into Friday's third round encounter against her sister with a 6-2 6-2 win over German world number 101 Carina Witthoeft on the back of 30 winners and 13 aces.

Venus, the 2000 and 2001 champion, made the third round for the 17th time with a 6-4 7-5 victory over Camila Giorgi of Italy.

Tomorrow's match will be the earliest the sisters have met at a Slam since the 1998 Australian Open in what was also their first ever clash. It will be their sixth face-off in New York.

"Friday will be incredibly hard," said Serena before jokingly hitting back at
Venus's claim that when they last met at a Slam in the final of the 2017 Australian Open her sister had an advantage as it was "two against one."
- '10,000 times worse' --
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