(Photo credit score: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
Venus Williams marked her return to the WTA Tour by teaming up with Washington native Hailey Baptiste and defeating Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3, 6-1, in a first-round doubles match on the Mubadala Citi D.C. Open on Monday.
Williams, 45, had not competed since March 2024 on the Miami Open. Earning a wild card to compete in D.C., the seven-time main singles champion will face 23-year-old Peyton Stearns in singles competitors within the featured match on Tuesday night time.
Three thousand followers — together with NBA star and tennis fan Kevin Durant — packed cozy John Harris Court to witness Williams’ return and cheer on her associate, one in all their hometown favorites. The Williams-Stearns match can be performed on the principle Stadium Court and can probably be crammed as properly.
Williams would be the oldest lady to compete at a WTA tour-level principal draw match since Kimiko Date (then 46) took the court docket in Tokyo in 2018. Should Williams upset the Thirty fifth-ranked Stearns, she would grow to be the oldest participant to earn a victory since Martina Navratilova received a match at Wimbledon in 2004 as a 47-year-old.
Moreover, Williams and Reilly Opelka have signed up for the newly-formatted blended doubles competitors at this 12 months’s U.S. Open. They would want a wild-card entry to compete in that occasion, to be held on Aug. 19-20, earlier than the singles and doubles competitions get underway on Aug. 25.
–Field Level Media