Latest news with #PeytonStearns
CNA
an hour ago
- Sport
- CNA
Fire still burns as Venus Williams becomes oldest WTA match-winner since 2004
Venus Williams said she still has fire in her belly after the 45-year-old became the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004 with her 6-3 6-4 victory over Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open on Tuesday. Having returned to competitive action on Monday in the women's doubles following a 16-month absence from the game, Williams defeated world number 35 Stearns to claim her first singles win since 2023 in Cincinnati. The seven-times Grand Slam singles champion is the oldest WTA singles match-winner since a 47-year-old Martina Navratilova won at Wimbledon in 2001. "I think I just attacked the whole time. It's just trying to find the right balance between going to hard and not enough," Williams said after the opening-round win. "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." Williams will next face Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. "I think it was a big win for me today. Like I said, it's not easy. It won't be easy. It's not easy for anyone out here," Williams said.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Venus Williams, 45, becomes oldest WTA match winner since Navratilova
Venus Williams wanted to send a message – to herself and to others – about coming back from a long layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about never giving up. Yes, there was something special about just being back on a tennis court Tuesday night. There also was this: She really, really wanted to win. And Williams did just that, becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns – 22 years her junior – by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open. 'Each week that I was training, I was, like, 'Oh, my God, I don't know if I'm good enough yet.' And then there would be weeks where I would leap forward. And there would be two weeks where I was, like, 'Oh, God, it's not happening.' Even the week leading up, (I thought), 'Oh, my gosh, I need to improve so much more.' So it's all a head game,' Williams said after her first singles match in more than a year and first singles victory in nearly two. The only older woman to win a tour-level singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose last triumph came at 47 in 2004. The former No 1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn't won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as 'inactive'. 'I'm just constantly praying for good health, so that way I could have an opportunity to play with good health,' Williams said. 'A lot of this for me is being able to come back and try to play at a level (and) to play healthy.' Backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hard-court tournament in the nation's capital, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in women's doubles – all alongside younger sister Serena – and two in mixed doubles. 'I wanted to play a good match,' Williams told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: 'and win the match.' In Tuesday's second game, Williams smacked a return winner to get things started, then delivered a couple of other big responses to break Stearns, a 23-year-old who won singles and team NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th. In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach a drop shot and replied with a forehand winner. The first chorus of cheers arrived when Williams walked out into the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7,000-seat arena that's more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode from the sideline to the center of the court for the coin toss. The noise reached a crescendo when Williams began hitting aces – at 110mph and faster – the way she used to. Keep in mind: Williams won four Grand Slam trophies before Stearns was born. Venus Williams hit big serves and groundstrokes just like she always did 'She played some ball tonight,' Stearns said. 'She was moving really well, which I wasn't expecting too much, honestly. Her serves were just on fire.' There also were moments where Williams – whose fiance was in the stands – looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken at love this way: forehand wide, forehand into the net, forehand long, backhand long. At the end, it took Williams a bit of extra effort to close things out. She kept holding match points and kept failing to convert them. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams powered in a 112mph serve that Stearns returned into the net. That was it: Williams smiled wide as can be, raised a fist and jogged to the net to shake hands, then performed her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave. 'It's not easy. It won't be easy. It's not easy for anyone out here,' said Williams, who next faces No 5 seed Magdalena Frech, who's 27. 'So I know I'll have to fight for every match. But I'm up for that.'
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Fire still burns as Venus Williams becomes oldest WTA match-winner since 2004
July 23 (Reuters) - Venus Williams said she still has fire in her belly after the 45-year-old became the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004 with her 6-3 6-4 victory over Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open on Tuesday. Having returned to competitive action on Monday in the women's doubles following a 16-month absence from the game, Williams defeated world number 35 Stearns to claim her first singles win since 2023 in Cincinnati. The seven-times Grand Slam singles champion is the oldest WTA singles match-winner since a 47-year-old Martina Navratilova won at Wimbledon in 2001. "I think I just attacked the whole time. It's just trying to find the right balance between going to hard and not enough," Williams said after the opening-round win. "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." Williams will next face Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. "I think it was a big win for me today. Like I said, it's not easy. It won't be easy. It's not easy for anyone out here," Williams said. "So I know I'll have to fight for every match, but I'm up for that."
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Japan Times
Venus Williams wins in singles return as Osaka lines up Raducanu match
Venus Williams made a triumphant return to singles tennis on Tuesday after a 16-month hiatus, defeating fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the WTA and ATP DC Open. The 45-year-old winner of seven career Grand Slam singles titles rolled to her 819th career WTA singles victory in 97 minutes at the first US Open hardcourt tuneup event. "It is not easy to come off after all that time and play the perfect match," she said. "Peyton played so well. I felt like I was trying to slow myself down from going faster and faster and faster." Williams had not played a WTA singles match since March of last year at Miami and had not won a match in 709 days — since defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the first round at Cincinnati in August 2023. "I wanted to play a good match and win the match," Williams said. "It's so rewarding to come back after a layoff and injuries." Williams became the oldest player to compete in a WTA tour-level match since Japan's Kimiko Date at 46 in Tokyo in 2017. She became the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova at age 47 at Wimbledon in 2004. "Thank you so much for the energy," Williams told the crowd. "We were literally living and dying together." Williams broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set, winning nine of 10 points in one stretch, then held to 5-3 and pushed Stearns in a 12-minute ninth game but missed on four match points before Stearns held. Williams smashed a service winner on her sixth match point for the triumph, booking a second-round date with Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. "I'm back here because of the encouragement of my team and they wanted me to come on back and play again so a lot of this is for you guys," Williams told spectators. "You guys don't know how much work goes into this. It's nine to five but you're running the whole time, lifting weights and then you're like dying — and then you repeat it the next day." Japan's Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5, to book a second-round match against Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner, who eliminated Ukraine's seventh-seeded Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. "I'm excited about it," Osaka said. "I've never played her before, so for me, that's something really cool too. Because I've seen her, I guess when she first did well at Wimbledon before she won the US Open, moments like that, and I knew she was a good player." "I'm looking forward to the match," Raducanu said. "It will be a great test of my own game and myself." Norrie beats Musetti Britain's Cameron Norrie rallied to defeat world number seven Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Norrie, seeking his sixth ATP title, captured his first victory over a top-10 player in 2 1/2 years. "I made it very difficult for him," Norrie said. "My backhand was coming through the court low. My forehand was jumping. I'm just enjoying my tennis a lot more these days." Norrie, whose most recent title was in February 2023 at Rio, snapped a 14-match losing streak against top-10 foes. Wimbledon quarterfinalist Norrie next faces US 14th seed Brandon Nakashima.
New York Times
3 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Venus rises: 45-year-old Venus Williams stuns at Citi Open after year-long hiatus
Oh, to be Venus Williams this week. To be 45 years old and beating women about half her age in both singles and doubles. To be 30 years into your professional tennis career and knocking off a solid up-and-comer and the 2022 NCAA singles champion in Peyton Stearns, the world No. 35. Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion walked onto the stadium court at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., as the sun was setting but played as though it was rising on her career. She had not played a WTA Tour match since March of 2024. She had not won one since 2023. The WTA Tour website doesn't even list her as having a ranking. Advertisement Yet there she was thumping forehands and backhands across the court against Stearns, who was shaky from the start against Williams, an icon not just of tennis, not just of women's sports, but of all sports. In some ways, Stearns was an ideal opponent for Williams: a big hitter prone to erratic play on big stages. And while the Citi Open in Washington's Rock Creek Park might not seem like a big stage, once Williams asked for and received a wild card entry into the tournament — and Stearns drew her in the first round — it became the sport's most talked about match during a relatively quiet week on the tour as the North American hard court swing gets underway. On Monday, Williams partnered with Hailey Baptiste in a straight sets doubles win. She hit the ball cleanly and covered her half of the court efficiently. Her partnership with Baptiste, a rising Black American 23-year-old made for a good story. Her solid play generated a buzz. But could she do it in singles? Indeed she could. Williams, once an endorsement queen, wore a logo-free black dress and white visor and played uncomplicated tennis, smacking nine aces and attacking at the first strike. She and Stearns traded breaks of serve to start. But then Williams mostly took control, moving Stearns around enough to induce errors and pushing her back into the court. Only four rallies lasted beyond nine shots. Williams set up a set point with a big serve, then hit a kicker that Stearns could not get back to seal the first set, 6-3. Soon, she was up a break in the second set. She stumbled briefly, rattled by a foot fault call and lost three consecutive games. In a flash Stearns was on the front foot leading 3-1. But then Williams once more started stepping onto the court and taking the initiative, winning four straight games as the crowd exploded, rallying behind her. Advertisement Serving at 3-5, Stearns saved four match points, during a final game that lasted more than 12 minutes, playing some of her best tennis with her back against the wall. But Williams buckled down and climbed out of a 0-30 hole in the next game. An ace got her back even. A big serve that Stearns returned long got her yet another match point that she frittered away with a double fault. Three points later, she had another shot to seal it. One more big serve that Stearns sent into the net and the night was hers. The arms rose in the air at her 819th career victory, and soon she began spinning in the center of the court. 'Venus, Venus, Venus,' Renae Stubbs said to her during the on-court interview. 'We were living and dying together,' she said to the crowd. Williams isn't the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour match. Martina Navratilova won at 47 in in 2004. Still, beating No. 35 at 45 — not bad. 'It's just about putting it all together,' she said. 'I wanted to play a good match and win the match.' Williams said her fiance, an Italian film star, Andrea Preti, encouraged her to try to come back. It was hard but worth it. She next faces Magdalena Frech of Poland.
