Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin made history during their first-round match at the US Open, but tennis great Martina Navratilova was far from impressed by organisers of the season-ending Grand Slam in New York.

Monday’s encounter between the Americans on Arthur Ashe Stadium started at 12:13am local time as it set a record for the latest start in US Open history with the clash finishing just before 2am.

Williams and Kenin were initially due to play on Sunday evening at the main showcourt at Flushing Meadows, but the match was pushed back as the Novak Djokovic-Mariano Navone encounter took nearly five hours to complete, causing lots of confusion.

With the clock ticking to midnight, organisers decided to move the clash to Louis Armstrong Stadium and the two players made their way there only to be told at the last minute that the Djokovic-Navone match had been completed, resulting in a scramble back to Arthur Ashe.

Kenin claimed a 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) win and told those in the stands: “Thank you guys so much for staying, I know it’s 2am. Here playing in New York, I love it here. Second night session on [Arthur] Ashe, you can’t ask for anything better. I’m grateful to be on this court, I absolutely love it here.”

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During the post-match press conference, former world No 1 Williams admitted she was not happy with the late start.

“I’ve never played a match that late before. It’s not ideal. I would have preferred something else. I think it wasn’t great for either of us,” the seven-time Grand Slam winner said.

“I definitely think there’s room for improvement there.”

And Navratilova agrees that things need to change as she offered advice on how they can improve on the current scheduling nightmare.

“It was the latest start for a women’s match ever. After midnight, and it could have been later. Tennis is the only sport that does this. I think it’s crazy,” she told Sky Sports.

“I think they need to fix the night session. It’s too late. I think they should play men’s singles and then maybe a doubles match. If you do women’s singles you can still have another doubles match, or another women’s singles. You’ll see get four sets of play minimum.

“Even if you put the women’s match on first and it’s three sets, the guys start by 10pm. If a men’s match goes five sets, you start at midnight.

“You’re never on the court at midnight and you never start a match at midnight, so it’s counterproductive for everybody, spectators and the players.”