The Williams sisters have received relatively kind draws for the first round of next week’s ASB Classic in Auckland.
Unable to meet until the final on 7 January, top-seeded Serena will take on French veteran Pauline Parmentier while Venus will play Kiwi young gun Jade Lewis.
Third-seed Danish ace Caroline Wozniacki, meanwhile, will tussle with American 23-year-old Nicole Gibbs.
Wozniacki is on the same side of the draw as Venus, who she is likely to face in the semifinals for a place in the final against Serena.
If that match eventuated, it would be a rematch of their Auckland final in 2015.
Yet it will depend on all three evading any banana skins placed in front of them next week, such as Czech fourth-seed Barbora Strycova or Kiwi wildcard Marina Erakovic.
Erakovic, 28, will face Latvian teen Jelena Ostapenko in the first round and, should she progress, would challenge Serena in the quarterfinals.
22 September 2017
In the heat and humidity of the recent US Open series, there was a slow-mo nod to a long-r... More
21 March 2017
Martina Hingis might still be a force on the doubles court (she won the women's doubles ti... More
23 March 2017
Think umpiring is an easy job? Think again. Because umpire's don't just have to keep an ey... More
23 February 2017
On this day in 1867 Major Walter Wingfield tried to patent 'A portable Court of Playing Te... More
© 2024 Tennis Australia