Venus Williams was once again on the wrong end of the result after a heartbreaking doubles defeat with Leylah Fernandez.
Williams and Fernandez played doubles together at the US Open last year, where they reached the quarterfinals.
The pair were supposed to play together at Indian Wells, but an error meant that Williams and Fernandez were unable to compete together.
After joining forces again at the Miami Open, Williams and Fernandez suffered a heartbreaking defeat in their first round match.
Leylah Fernandez makes mistakes in heartbreaking doubles defeat with Venus Williams in Miami
Williams and Fernandez looked set to pull off an impressive win over sixth seeds Asia Muhammad and Erin Routliffe, having led 9-4 in the third set match tie-break.
Despite having a total of six match points, Williams and Fernandez suffered a heartbreaking 3-6, 6-3, [13-11] defeat.
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While it is a defeat for both players, Fernandez in particular is likely to have some regrets about how she played certain points in the deciding tie-break.
On three consecutive match points, Fernandez had an opportunity to win the match for her team, but made uncharacteristic mistakes.
This saw the Canadian hit one ball long of the baseline, while Fernandez hit the other two shots into the net.
As a result of this, Williams has now lost her last 11 consecutive matches across both singles and doubles.
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Williams also lost in the first round of the singles tournament at the Miami Open, having been beaten in straight sets by British player Fran Jones.
The last time that Williams lost any match was at the US Open alongside Fernandez, when they beat Ekaterina Alexandrova and Shuai Zhang.
Since then, Williams has lost six singles matches and five doubles matches, with seven of these 11 matches in straight sets.
| Tournament | Venus Williams’ Result |
| US Open 2025 Doubles (With Leylah Fernandez) | Beaten by Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova, 6-1 6-2 |
| ASB Classic 2026 Doubles (With Elina Svitolina) | Beaten by Alexandra Eala and Iva Jovic, 7-6(7) 6-1 |
| ASB Classic 2026 Singles | Beaten by Magda Linette, 6-4 4-6 6-2 |
| Hobart International 2026 Singles | Beaten by Tatjana Maria, 6-4 6-3 |
| Australian Open 2026 Singles | Beaten by Olga Danilovic, 6(5)-7 6-3 6-4 |
| Australian Open 2026 Doubles (With Ekaterina Alexandrova) | Beaten by Emiliana Arango and Elsa Jacquemot, 7-6(3) 6-4 |
| ATX Open 2026 Singles | Beaten by Ajla Tomljanovic, 6-4 6-1 |
| ATX Open 2026 Doubles (With Peyton Stearns) | Beaten by Storm Hunter and Taylor Townsend, 6-2 7-6(5) |
| Indian Wells 2026 Singles | Beaten by Diane Parry, 6-3 6(4)-7 6-1 |
| Miami Open 2026 Singles | Beaten by Fran Jones, 7-5 7-5 |
| Miami Open 2026 Doubles (With Leylah Fernandez) | Beaten by Asia Muhammad and Erin Routliffe, 3-6 6-3 [13-11] |
It has been even longer since Williams last won a singles match, which happened when she beat Peyton Stearns at the 2025 Washington Open.
Williams has not confirmed her next tournament, with it seeming likely that she will skip the clay court season before returning for the grass.
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