The most interesting rivalry in sports may have its biggest match yet tonight, when the Williams sisters face off for the 27th time in a US Open quarterfinal match in New York. The younger Williams—Serena, the world’s #1 ranked player and one of the most dominant athletes in any sport, ever—is in pursuit of her first calendar Grand Slam (winning all four major tournaments in a year) after winning this year’s Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon final. A US Open win would give her a 22nd career Grand Slam title, tying her with Steffi Graf for the second most all time.
And tonight, her big sister Venus will try to deny her all that.
Venus has held her own against Serena, winning 11 of their 26 matches. She last bested her sister at the Rogers Cup in 2014. But she hasn’t beaten Serena in a Grand Slam match since the 2008 Wimbledon final. Serena is expected to win tonight, but if there’s any player who knows her weaknesses and has a chance to upset her chance at history, it’s her sister Venus.
The match will start tonight (Sept. 8) at 7pm in New York (12am in the UK). The vast majority of Americans will be watching it on…
ESPN
Americans who subscribe to a cable TV service should have no problems watching the match live on ESPN. (US Open coverage is running throughout the day on the network.) It also will stream online at WatchESPN, though that requires a log-in with your cable subscription credentials. Alternatively, you could sign up for Dish Network’s internet TV service, Sling TV, which includes ESPN, and offers a free seven-day trial.
(You also can find the ESPN stream on the US Open website, though you’ll still have to prove you pay for cable TV to access it.)
Sky Sports
The match will air on Sky Sports 1 in the UK. Like ESPN, Sky has US Open coverage throughout the day on Tuesday. Brits with Sky Sports access also can watch online at Sky Go.
Other networks around the world
The match will air on Fox Sports in Australia, TSN in Canada, and Eurosport in much of Europe and Asia. The US Open website lists all of the tournament’s other international TV partners, which includes CCTV in China and Sky Television in New Zealand.
You also could try using a virtual private network (VPN) like TunnelBear or Hola, but keep in mind that using these likely constitutes a violation of the law.
One of many seedy streams across the internet
If you’re desperate, Reddit has a list of other sites that will stream the match. These streams are usually bad in quality, riddled with advertisements, and, yes, illegal. SkyStreams has live streams of Sky Sports, as well as Eurosport, but is not, of course, sanctioned by either network.