Washington, Jul 23: In her first singles match in 16 months, former World No. 1 Venus Williams stormed past World No. 35 Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the DC Open women's singles first-round match on Wednesday (IST).

The 45-year-old Venus became the oldest player to win a tour-level singles match since then-47-year-old Martina Navratilova beat Catalina Castano at 2004 Wimbledon -- over 21 years ago.

"It's the first step, and the first match is always extremely difficult. It's hard to describe how difficult it is to play a first match after so much time off. So going into the match, I know I have the ability to win, but it's all about actually winning. So this is the best result, to play a good match and win. I'm here with my friends, family, people I love, and the fans, too, who I love and they love me, so this has been just a beautiful night," Venus said after the match.

Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus was already the oldest player to contest a tour-level singles match since then-46 year-old Kimiko Date lost her first-round match at 2017 Tokyo. Williams will now get to contest at least one more. This was her first singles win since she beat then-World No. 16 Veronika Kudermetova at 2023 Cincinnati -- meaning her last two wins have come over Top 35 players, almost two years apart, WTA reports.

Venus will face another Top 35 player in the second round: she will have her first career meeting with World No. 24 Magdalena Frech of Poland. No. 5 seed Frech beat qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-4 in the first round on Monday.

Earlier, Venus emerged victorious in her first professional tennis match in 16 months, joining Hailey Baptiste to defeat fellow doubles wild cards Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue in the DC Open women's doubles first round on Tuesday (IST).

(IANS)

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