Yastremska started off the tie by nearly retiring with a medical timeout taken after the number 16 seed rolled her ankle but she wanted to finish the match out of respect for Williams.

But the winners started to come in for the young Ukrainian and she stopped thinking about the pain to produce a brilliant 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 win.

A dominant second set followed the initial injury scare and after the first eight games of the decider went with serve, she was the first to break and served for the win at 5-4. But the seven-time major champion came back to break asking the question.

Yastremska though once again broke back and finally served it out saving three break points in the end. It was a match that saw stats wise, the former the aggressor with 39 winners and nine aces while for Venus it was 11 winners to 41 unforced errors which proved vital.

After a tough start, the 16th seed will face Bernarda Pera who herself produced 13 aces in seeing off Heather Watson in three sets.

Elsewhere, former champion Victoria Azarenka got through her first assignment against Donna Vekic, the no.15 seed. It was an emphatic win 6-2, 6-3 to get back on track; after back-to-back defeats for the two time Australian Open champion; including to Venus Williams last week in Lexington.

Also it has significance with it being the best player beaten ranking wise since Belinda Bencic last year; albeit with the then World No.12 retiring and since last May in Rome where she defeated Elina Svitolina.

But her dominance showed as she hit 21 winners to 14 unforced errors, seven aces and broke serve five times; with Vekic recording seven double faults. Next is Sloane Stephens or Caroline Garcia; as the 31-year-old aims to produce a winning run in New York.

While a classy display followed for Amanda Anisimova who saw off Alison Riske the 11th seed 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round. A potential match against Jennifer Brady is set to follow for the 18-year-old.

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