WASHINGTON — Venus Williams grew to become the second-oldest girl to win a tour-level singles match in skilled tennis, delivering a few of her acquainted large serves and groundstrokes at age 45 whereas beating Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — by a 6-3, 6-4 rating on the DC Open on Tuesday night time.
This was the primary singles victory for Williams in practically two years. The one older girl to win a match was 47-year-old Martina Navratilova at 2004 Wimbledon.
The previous No. 1-ranked Williams had not performed singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, lacking time whereas having surgical procedure to take away uterine fibroids. She hadn’t received in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Till this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as “inactive.”
“It isn’t straightforward,” Williams mentioned, “to (come again) in any case that point and play the right match.”
However backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and help, her on the hard-court event within the nation’s capital, Williams confirmed glimpses of the expertise she possesses and the abilities she displayed whereas incomes all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in girls’s doubles — all alongside youthful sister Serena — and two in blended doubles.
“I needed to play a superb match,” she instructed the followers, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: “and win the match.”
In Tuesday’s second sport, for instance, Williams smacked a return winner to get issues began, then delivered a few different large responses to interrupt Stearns, a 23-year-old who received singles and staff NCAA titles on the College of Texas and is at present ranked thirty fifth.
Within the subsequent sport, Williams sprinted ahead to succeed in a drop shot and replied with a winner. Quickly, she led 4-2, then was closing that set.
She was accompanied by choruses of cheers. The primary arrived when Williams walked out into the primary stadium on the DC Open, a 7,000-seat area that is greater than twice as giant as the place she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. One other got here when she strode from the sideline to the middle of the court docket for the formality of the coin toss. The noise actually reached a crescendo when Williams started hitting aces — at 110 mph and quicker — the way in which she used to.
There additionally have been moments the place Williams — who mentioned her fiancé was within the stands — appeared as if it had been simply so long as it really has since she competed, together with within the opening sport, when she bought damaged at love this fashion: forehand huge, forehand into the web, forehand lengthy, backhand lengthy.
On the finish, it took Williams a bit of additional effort to shut issues out. She saved holding match factors and saved failing to transform them. However finally, on her sixth probability, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the web. That was it: Williams smiled huge as will be, raised a fist and jogged to the web to shake palms, then carried out her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave.
She superior to a second-round matchup towards No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, a 27-year-old from Poland.
ESPN Analysis and The Related Press contributed to this report.