45‑Year‑Old Venus Rachel Resumes Tour with Straight‑Sets Doubles Win

Venus Williams welcomed her comeback from 16 months out of professional tennis with a doubles victory at the DC Open. Teamining with fellow American Hailey Baptiste, the seven-time Grand Slam champion beat Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue in the women's doubles first round.

The match saw a swift shift in momentum. Trailing 3-1 and facing a break point early on, the Williams-Baptiste duo stormed back to claim 11 of the final 12 games, sealing an emphatic victory. This is Williams’ second appearance at the Washington-based tournament, having exited in the first round back in 2022.

At the age of 45, the ex-world No. 1 took a wild card to feature at the event. Prior to this match, she had last featured in competitive action at the Miami Open in March 2024 and hadn't won since the Cincinnati Open in August 2023.

Talking to Sky Sports post-match, Venus said: "It was motivating to be out here. I adore the game and still making it big. I feel like from the very first point I could tell that we were going to be a good team. We just needed to have started playing sooner, years ago, okay? I feel like Serena was just getting in the way."

While unranked in singles, Venus Williams is still a tennis legend who won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside her sister Serena during their time of dominance.

Williams will then shift her focus to singles, in which she meets fellow American Peyton Stearns in the first round on Tuesday. Playing as a wild card entry, Venus will become the oldest player to compete in a WTA Tour-level main-draw singles match since Kimiko Date, 46 when she competed in Tokyo in 2017.

If she gets through an upset of 35th-ranked Stearns, Williams would be the oldest woman to claim a WTA singles victory since Martina Navratilova, who won at Wimbledon in 2004 at 47.

In men's singles play, Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie both advanced to the second round of the Washington tournament.

Defending champion Evans, 35, overcame a set deficit to defeat Zizou Bergs 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. British wild card Norrie will face next American No. 13 seed Alex Michelsen.

Compatriot and qualifier Billy Harris was dispatched by Norrie 6-3, 7-6(7-4). Norrie faces a daunting task next against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, the second seed and recent French Open semi-finalist.