• Kenin wins 6-2, 7-6 (6) in late-night contest

• Williams loses 15th straight tour-level match

• First-round clash finally begins at 12.13am

Sunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, her entrance pushed deep into the night after Novak Djokovic’s bruising defeat by Argentina’s Mariano Navone went the five-set distance. The first ball was struck at 12.13am, the latest start to a match in US Open history, yet several thousand spectators remained to watch a player who has been part of this tournament for as long as the building itself.

At 46 years old, ranked 611th in the world and making her record-extending 26th US Open singles appearance, Williams has grown accustomed to making history simply by showing up. Even by those standards this latest installment was, as she would later describe it, “completely insane”.

Record crowds, premium seats and an unchecked resale market are transforming the self-styled people’s slam – and leaving ordinary fans fighting to get through the gates

It takes a truly exceptional affordability crisis to put Bill Ackman and Zohran Mamdani on the same side of the barricade. Yet this month the billionaire hedge fund manager and New York’s democratic socialist mayor found common cause over an unlikely grievance: the cost of getting into the US Open.

Ackman took objection to the cost of a grounds pass listed for $363. Mamdani responded to the broader uproar by securing 1,000 tickets for New York residents at $100 apiece, prompting more than 336,000 people to apply for them. Somewhere between the two sits the uneasy economics of the modern US Open, where a $65 ticket with no guaranteed seat on any court can fetch more than five times that amount on the tournament’s resale marketplace.

• Hrgović survives knockdown to stun Itauma

• Croatian claims IBF title after wild comeback

• Reach out to Bryan on Bluesky or by email

Sam Noakes has scored the biggest win of his career, outclassing former world champion Denys Berinchyk to win a 10-round unanimous decision. The 29-year-old from Kent controlled the fight throughout, winning by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.

That’s it for the undercard at the O2. The final countdown to Moses Itauma v Filip Hrgović is on.