CINCINNATI — Venus Williams, who returned to tennis final month after being away from the game for greater than a yr, misplaced to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday within the first spherical of the Cincinnati Open.
Subsequent up for the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion is the U.S. Open, the place she obtained a wild-card entry with Reilly Opelka to play blended doubles starting Aug. 19. Williams has received 14 Grand Slam doubles titles along with her sister Serena and one other two in blended doubles.
“Coming off of this match, I really feel wonderful,” Williams mentioned. “In order that implies that on this subsequent interval [ahead of the US Open] I will not have to repair accidents. Now I can work on energy and pace as a substitute of making an attempt to simply ensure I am not harm going into the event.”
The 51st-ranked Bouzas Maneiro, who wasn’t born when Williams received her first 4 Grand Slam titles, superior to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal match final week in Montreal.
With the gang on her facet, Williams pushed the 22-year-old Spaniard however struggled along with her service recreation.
Williams, who’s one yr faraway from uterine surgical procedure, grew to become the oldest lady to win a WTA match in additional than 20 years when she defeated Peyton Stearns final month on the DC Open. It was her first event in 16 months and her first win for the reason that 2023 Cincinnati Open.
“I believe there have been moments the place I used to be working by way of the kinks, however I believe there was by no means a second the place I did not go for it,” Williams mentioned. “I undoubtedly see lots of positives for at present and I believe simply coming again, not all the pieces’s going to be good, however lots of nice issues at present.”
Williams was making her eleventh look on the Cincinnati Open, the place she reached the semifinals in 2012 and quarterfinals in 2019. She has spent 11 weeks ranked No. 1.
ESPN’s D’Arcy Maine and The Related Press contributed to this report.