Venus Williams Becomes Oldest WTA Singles Winner In More Than Two Decades
Venus Williams made a winning return to the WTA Tour on Tuesday evening, as the 45-year-old American defeated compatriot Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the first-round of the Mubadala Citi Open.
The victory was Williams’ first win since she beat Veronika Kudermetova in Cincinnati back in 2023, and she becomes the oldest woman to win a tour-level match since a 47-year-old Martina Navratilova defeated Catalina Castano at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships.
“You know, it’s the first step, and the first match is always extremely difficult. It’s hard to describe how difficult it is to play a first match after so much time off,” said Williams. “So going into the match, I know I have the ability to win, but it’s all about actually winning. So this is the best result, to play a good match and win.”
The match did not get off the best start for Williams who was broken at love in the opening game. But she immediately responded with a break of her own, and kept the pressure on Stearns whose errors allowed Williams to break again and win the first set.
The 23-year-old Stearns bounced back in the second set, winning 10 consecutive points to open up a 3-1 advantage. However, Williams rattled off the next four games to seize control of the set, and even had four match points on Stearns serve while leading 5-3.
Stearns held on to trim the deficit to 4-5, and forced Williams to serve out the match. She let a fifth match point slip away and even faced a break point, but on the sixth match point she got, Williams fired a booming serve to close things out.
“I think there were times where I was just trigger-happy. Going crazy really fast, and I sort of convinced myself to play those points, be patient, slow down,” she said. “I think it was a big win for me today. Like I said, it’s not easy. It won’t be easy. It’s not easy for anyone out here. So I know I’ll have to fight for every match, but I’m up for that.”
Up next for Williams is 24th ranked Madalena Frech of Poland, who beat Yulia Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-4 in her opening round match. It will be the first ever meeting between Williams and Frech.
