Venus Williams won in the first round of the WTA tournament in Washington DC against Peyton Stearns-she is the oldest match winner on the WTA tour for 21 years.
The 45-year-old Williams won 6: 3, 6: 4 and also celebrated a successful comeback in singles. With her success against the 22 years younger Stearns, Williams has now been the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova, who won against Catalina Castano in Wimbledon at the age of 47. In the second round she now meets the Polish Magdalena, which is placed on number five.
“I wanted to play a good match and win the match. It is so satisfactory to come back after a break and injuries”, Said Williams, who had to undergo a uterine operation last year.
For Williams it was the first single match since March 2024, and she had booked the last victory in August 2023 against the Russian Weronika Kudermetowa. Until a week ago, Williams from the WTA was still listed as “inactive”, and it is currently no longer managed in the world rankings.
Speculation about individual start at US Open
The day before, the seven-time Grand Slam winner had registered with a win in doubles alongside Hailey Baptiste 16 months after her last official match so far.
A return of Williams to the US Open is currently also being speculated. The organizers of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year announced the report from Williams for the upstream mixed competition on Monday. So far, the organizers have not commented on plans for a possible individual start of the Californian.