Williams, a seven-time singles and 14-time doubles Grand Slam champion, was overwhelmed by Czech eleventh seed Karolina Muchova within the first spherical of the ladies’s singles on Tuesday.
However she impressed in the course of the defeat and later accepted a wildcard invitation to companion 22-year-old Fernandez within the doubles.
The pair’s victory in opposition to extremely skilled doubles duo Hozumi and Eikeri, of Japan and Norway respectively, means they’re but to drop a set at Flushing Meadows collectively.
Williams, who had been away from the WTA Tour for 16 months earlier than her return to motion in Washington in July, turned the oldest singles participant in 44 years to play at Flushing Meadows this week.
They’ll face both British pair Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal or Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai within the subsequent spherical.
Elsewhere, Briton Henry Patten and Finnish companion Harri Heliovaara have been knocked out within the first spherical of the boys’s doubles by Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase.
The German-Dutch duo misplaced the primary set on a tie-break however took the next two units to seal a 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (11-9) 7-5 victory.
Third seeds Patten and Heliovaara gained the Australian Open title earlier this yr after being topped Wimbledon champions in 2024.
Jamie Murray and his Croatian companion Ivan Dodig additionally exited in a 6-4 6-3 defeat by Brazilian duo Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo.
