Venus Williams makes historic return, becomes second-oldest WTA winner

Venus Williams made a stunning return to singles tennis on Tuesday, defeating fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the DC Open. The 45-year-old, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, claimed her 819th career WTA singles victory in just 97 minutes - marking her first tour-level win in nearly two years.

With this win, Venus became the second-oldest woman in professional tennis history to claim a singles victory on the WTA Tour. It marked her first singles triumph in nearly two years. The only player older to achieve such a feat is Martina Navratilova, who won at Wimbledon in 2004 at age 47.



Williams hadn’t played a WTA singles match since March 2023 in Miami and hadn’t won one since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Her victory over Stearns ended a 709-day drought. She also became the oldest player to compete in a WTA tour-level match since Kimiko Date in 2017.

"It’s so rewarding to come back after a layoff and injuries," Williams said. "It’s not easy to come off all that time and play the perfect match, but I’m really proud."

In the second set, Williams surged ahead with a break for 4-3, winning nine of 10 points during a dominant stretch. She then held serve to go up 5-3 and battled through a tense 12-minute game before finally sealing the win on her sixth match point with a service winner.


Venus now advances to face fifth-seeded Magdalena Frech of Poland in the second round. Reflecting on her comeback, she credited her team and the crowd for their support, saying, "You guys don’t know how much work goes into this... and then you repeat it the next day."