Venus Williams’ return to tennis ended earlier than hoped, as she was beaten in straight sets by Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the last 16 of the DC Open on Thursday.
The 45-year-old American, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, was playing her first tournament in 16 months. She made headlines on Tuesday by becoming the oldest woman to win a WTA match in over 20 years after beating Peyton Stearns.
However, she struggled against fifth seed Frech, who won 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour.
Frech will now face third seed Elena Rybakina in Friday’s quarter-finals.
Frech took control early, breaking Williams in the fifth game of the first set to lead 3-2, then held serve and broke again as Williams made errors, including two double faults. Frech quickly wrapped up the set.
Williams fell behind again early in the second set. A missed smash gave Frech another break, and the Pole kept up the pressure to go 3-1 ahead. Williams briefly fought back with a break to make it 4-2, but Frech broke again and then served out the match.
Other Thursday results:
- Leylah Fernandez (Canada), 2021 US Open finalist, upset top seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 1-6, 7-5. She will face Taylor Townsend, who beat Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-0.
- Emma Raducanu (Britain) continued her good form, defeating Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2. She’ll play Maria Sakkari next.
- In the men’s event, Ben Shelton (4th seed) beat Gabriel Diallo 6-3, 6-2 and will play Frances Tiafoe, who beat Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-4.
- Taylor Fritz, the top seed, joined them in the quarters with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Matteo Arnaldi.
- Alex de Minaur (Australia) also progressed after beating Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-4.
