August 23, 2024

Open Court

MORE TENNIS THAN YOU'LL EVER NEED

May-December flashback: Date v Bencic

As 43-year-old Venus Williams prepares to take on 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the first round of the Cleveland WTA tournament this week, we flash back to another epic meet between a 16-year-old and a 43-year-old.

It was the first round of the 2014 Australian Open.

That’s when 43-year-old Kimiko Date, who been retired for 12 years and returned in 2008, played Bencic, who was a qualifier ranked No. 187 in the world.

Date had gotten her ranking back up to No. 80 at the time.

We remember it being … really hot.

Here’s what it looked like.

Both, it turned out, reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 – but 25 years apart.

Date has eight WTA singles titles; so far, Bencic has seven.

Can you remember who won (no cheating)?

Three hours vs Niculescu

If that wasn’t enough Kimiko content, here she is grinding for three hours, at 39, to beat 22-year-old Monica Niculescu at the Rogers Cup in 2010.

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