At 45, Venus Williams seals incredible victory over Stearns at Washington Open
Venus Williams, 45, became the second-oldest woman to win a WTA singles match with a straight-sets victory over world No. 35 Peyton Stearns at the Citi Open
Venus Williams, Washington 2025 | © Geoff Burke-Imagn Images/Sipa USA/SIPA
Venus Williams, at 45, offered a powerful reminder of her enduring presence in the game on Tuesday night. The American icon made history at the Citi Open, becoming the oldest woman to win a WTA tour-level singles match since Martina Navratilova in 2004. She did so with a commanding 6‑3, 6‑4 victory over 23-year-old world No. 35 Peyton Stearns.
Williams is now the second-oldest woman to win a WTA main-draw singles match, behind only Navratilova, who achieved the feat at 47.
Fresh from surgery to remove uterine fibroids and returning from a 16-month layoff – her last singles match having come at the 2024 Miami Open – Williams played with both power and purpose. Her serve reached 110 mph, and she dropped just seven games against Stearns, a semi-finalist in Rome earlier this year, demonstrating flashes of the fierce competitiveness that has defined her career.
Venus : “The same fire”
“I think I just attacked the whole time,” Williams said, underscoring her aggressive mindset on court. “It’s just trying to find the right balance between going to hard and not enough.”
“It’s the same because this is what I do, but at the same time, at the time it was imperative for me to do it. Now I don’t have to do this, but I have the same fire and the same want to win.
“In some ways, I’m still getting back into that. When you do it everyday, everything is natural. Not as natural feeling now, but I hope I can get back to that.”
A seven-time Grand Slam champion who began her professional career in 1994, Williams earned her first singles win since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Despite being broken four times, she broke Stearns six times and eventually secured victory on her sixth match point.
Just a night before, she and partner Hailey Baptiste cruised to a 6‑3, 6‑1 win in the doubles opener hailed by a packed stand that even included NBA superstar Kevin Durant.
Her next test awaits against fifth-seeded Magdalena Frech, and the momentum is firmly on Williams’ side. She put it: “Maybe there’s more. Who knows?”
Washington WTA 500, other first-round results (William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, hard, USD 1.282.951, most recent results first):
- Naomi Osaka (WC) beat Yulia Putintseva: 6-2, 7-5
- Emma Raducanu beat Marta Kostyuk (7): 7-6 (4), 6-4
- Anna Kalinskaya beat Kamilla Rakhimova (Q): 6-2, 6-3
- Sofia Kenin (6) beat Hailey Baptiste: 6-3, 7-6 (4)
- Caroline Dolehide (Q) beat McCartney Kessler: 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3
- Taylor Townsend (Q) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-4, 7-5
- Magda Linette (8) beat Danielle Collins: 7-5, 6-4
- Magdalena Frech beat Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q): 6-2, 6-4
- Maria Sakkari (WC) beat Katie Boulter: 6-3, 6-4
- Leylah Fernandez beat Maya Joint: 6-3, 6-3
- Victoria Mboko (WC) beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-2, 6-4
