Venus Williams defied the odds to win her first singles match since August 2023.
At 45 years of age, the seven-time Grand Slam champion stepped on court and defeated world number 35 Peyton Stearns at Washington D.C.’s Citi Open.
This made Williams the oldest player to claim a WTA Tour match win since Martina Navratilova, who in 2004 won a match at Wimbledon aged 47.
Williams has once again proved that age is just a number and it remains to be seen how much of a threat she can be to the game’s top players.
Former top 20 player Daria Saville assesses how far Venus Williams can go in her comeback
Despite her age and lengthy absence from the tour, Venus Williams has proved she can still defeat some of the world’s best.
Williams defeated Stearns 6-3, 6-4 with some impressive movement and aggressive shotmaking, which was cheered by members of her adoring home crowd.
The former world number one will face a difficult task against Magdalena Fręch in the next round.
But ahead of that match, Australia’s Daria Saville discussed if Williams can keep challenging the best that the WTA has to offer.
“It’s tough to say after one match. Well, she’s technically played three. She must be really fit to enter both doubles and singles,” Saville told the Australian Open’s Tennis podcast.
“Even when I was coming back from injuries I would never play both, and Storm [Hunter] is another example, she doesn’t play both. It’s just how much load she can take. Training and competing is completely different.”
Daria Saville pinpoints where Venus Williams was stronger than Peyton Stearns at the Citi Open
Despite falling behind in both sets, Williams reminded everyone of her quality as she used her aggressive serve and forehand to overturn the deficit.
Williams converted six of the 14 break point chances and won 71 percent of her first-serve points, in addition to 70 percent of points won while returning her opponent’s second serve.
Saville credited Williams for her mental strength to come from behind in both sets and this is an area in which she was superior to Stearns.
“I couldn’t believe how well she played. She made her comeback and she hasn’t played for 16 months and I felt like it was a real comeback,” Saville said.
“I felt like she was super fit. She closed it out in the second set. It was super tight, the second set. She was stronger mentally than Peyton.
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