Seven-time Grand Slam single champion Venus Williams on Monday returned to competitive tennis after a 16-month hiatus with a doubles victory at the Washington Open.
The 45-year-old American joined compatriot Hailey Baptiste to defeat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and US teen Clervie Ngounoue 6-3, 6-1 in a first-round match.
“After the match Hailey asked me: ‘How did that feel?’ It’s probably even harder to play the doubles first because I’m not a doubles player,” Williams said. “So it’s great to have her to kind of hold the team up. She has had the experience. She served first because she has been playing all year and playing well. I think that helped me a lot.”
Photo: AFP
Williams was yesterday to return to singles in the main court night feature match against American Peyton Stearns.
A crowd of about 3,000 spectators watched the doubles match, including NBA star Kevin Durant, who is from Washington.
“We were both so focused and after the match, I was, like: ‘Did you see Kevin Durant walk in?’ She was, like: ‘Yeah,’” Williams said.
Fans chanting “K-D” made it tough for Baptiste to focus, but she was happy to have a famous fan in the stands.
“It’s sick that he came out to support us,” she said. “It’s really cool.”
Meanwhile, last night after press time, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and China’s Jiang Xinyu, the No. 3 seeds, were to face Poland’s Katarzyna Piter and Sabrina Santamaria of the US in the opening round.
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Japanese partner Miyu Kato were to play Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos and Indonesia’s Aldila Sutjiadi.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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