Venus Williams rewrote the current history of world tennis, becoming the oldest tennis player to win on the professional tennis tour in 21 years. She defeated Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 at the tournament in Washington. Before the American's success, the most experienced winner was Martina Navratilova in 2004, 6-0, 6-1 against Catalino Castano at Wimbledon.

The 45-year-old American recorded six breaks against Stearns, who is the US college singles and doubles champion. However, Williams also wasted five match points before winning the tenth game of the second set on serve for the final 6-3, 6-4.

Williams has been playing tennis since 1994, when she made her debut in Oakland. Her last title was at Wimbledon in 2008, and her last win was over Veronika Kudermetova in 2023. Williams' next match is against Poland's Magdalena Frech, who is ranked 24th in the world. |BGNES