WASHINGTON — Venus Williams‘ bid for her first winning streak since 2019 ended with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to 24th-ranked Magdalena Frech at the D.C Open on Thursday night.
Williams, 45, is coming off a first-round victory Tuesday night against 35th-ranked Peyton Stearns. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion became the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match since Martina Navratilova was 47 in 2004.
That was Williams’ first win in singles since 2023, and she joked afterward that she was motivated to succeed because she wanted to get back on the WTA’s health insurance plan after being off the tour for more than a year.
She won a doubles match in Washington, too. This hard-court tournament was the first event for Williams since March 2024; she missed time because of surgery for uterine fibroids.
The last time Williams won at least two matches in a row was in August 2019, at the Cincinnati Open, where she put together three consecutive victories before losing to Madison Keys in the quarterfinals.
Williams started well against Frech, going up 2-1. But from there, Frech claimed seven straight games to own the first set and lead 2-0 in the second.
Frech is a 27-year-old from Poland whose best Grand Slam showing was a run to the fourth round at the 2024 Australian Open before losing to Coco Gauff.
The show under the lights Thursday was all about Williams, whose greeting was much louder when she walked on court toting a green exercise band. Every time Williams unfurled one of her booming groundstrokes — she still can hit the ball hard — the crowd in the main stadium roared.
The problem for Williams was that she frequently failed to calibrate those shots, including when she sailed a forehand after rushing forward to get to a short ball. That gave Frech a 3-2 lead.
Williams dropped her head or slumped her shoulders after some misses, and she had 14 unforced errors in the opening set, more than twice as many as Frech. Fans often responded with an “Awwww” right away, before trying to give Williams a boost by yelling support.
After Williams fell behind 1-0 in the second set, a chorus rose of “Here we go, Venus! Here we go!”
She generated loud applause after winning a game a few minutes later, and there were clap-accompanied chants of “Venus!” when she broke to get within 4-2 in that set. But Williams didn’t get another game.
When it ended after 1 hour, 12 minutes with one last Williams forehand that landed long, spectators gave her a standing ovation, and she responded with a smile and the sort of pirouette and wave she usually reserves for celebrating wins.
“We’re never going to say goodbye to Venus Williams, are we?” the stadium announcer said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
