
Age no barrier for Venus Williams
Venus Williams has received a wild card main draw entry into the Cincinnati Open, the tournament says, as the 45-year-old American enjoys an age-defying return to the spotlight.
The seven-times Grand Slam singles champion became the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004 when she beat world No 35 Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open on Tuesday, after a 16-month absence from the game.
Williams, who will play Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech in the next round in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, previously declined a wild card entry invite for Indian Wells earlier this year.
The Cincinnati Open also offered a wild card invite to hometown talent Caty McNally, who recently returned to action after undergoing elbow surgery last year.
The main draw of the Cincinnati Open begins on August 7.
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Newsroom
a day ago
- Newsroom
A tough week in Singapore
Swimming New Zealand bosses have some soul searching to do after New Zealand suffered its worst result at a world championship for seven years. This is despite entering two world champions for the first time, both who have had a significant increase in tailored support funding from High Performance Sport New Zealand this year. It was the first time since 2017, and the second since 2011, that no one placed higher than fifth. The eight-day championships in Singapore ended last night, with 400m freestyle world champion Erika Fairweather hoping to be the first Aquablack to medal at her third successive world championship. That would be a huge achievement, given only 10 had placed in the top 16 in the past decade at this level and of females, only Olympians Caitlin Deans and Eve Thomas also did so this year. Fairweather is also New Zealand's first ever aquatics world champion and won three medals at last year's championship. Her world title defence on the first day was over before it began. She missed the final on July 27 after a brutal disqualification for a slight backwards movement on the starting blocks, between the 'take your marks' command and the starting signal. No movement there is permitted. She is just the second woman to be disqualified in the event in world championship history, and by far the most high profile. 'Not everything went entirely to plan but that's part of it,' Fairweather says. Things didn't go to plan for Swimming New Zealand either, as Hazel Ouwehand, who would have been New Zealand's highest seeded swimmer at the world championships, decided to bypass Singapore. Her 50m butterfly lifetime best would have been enough to medal. While Fairweather's disqualification was unfortunate, she could only go on to manage a best placing of sixth. She comfortably won her heat in the 200m freestyle ahead of Australian Olympic champion Molly O'Callaghan and was just 0.09 seconds shy of her lifetime best in her semi-final but could not match that in the final. She was second last year. Yet Fairweather was fortunate to swim the final as the top three, American Katie Ledecky, Lani Pallister from Australia and Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh, weren't competing in that event, last year's winner Siobhan Haughey withdrew due to injury, and Australian Ariarne Titmus took a break. Caitlin Deans was the only Olympian to swim a lifetime best at both the 2025 national championships and again at the world championships. She placed 13th in the 1500m freestyle ahead of Eve Thomas, who was 16th. 'I was really happy with my performance. It's always a lot of fun racing on the big stage, and it's just made me more excited to get stuck into the 800m,' Deans said after her 1500m event. In the 800m freestyle, Deans got stuck in and went one better, placing 10th, her best world championship effort. It was a lifetime best and just over a second short of making a final in an event she did not qualify for last year. 'I'm absolutely rapt. To be so close to making the final is frustrating, but it's just more motivation for the upcoming season,' she says. Fairweather also competed in the 800m freestyle and was optimistic of a good placing. As a result, Swimming New Zealand did not enter a women's 4x200m freestyle relay team scheduled for the previous day, despite the relay team making a final at Paris for the first Olympics ever, and under the same circumstances. This year, Fairweather placed seventh in the 800m; the top three broke the championship record. American Katie Ledecky won her seventh straight title in a titanic race with Australia's Lani Pallister. Laura Quilter competed at her first worlds, after last competing internationally at the 2012 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She set a personal best in the 50m freestyle, aged 33, after being just shy of one in the 50m butterfly. 'To end my world champs with a lifetime best is such an awesome feeling,' she says. 'I just went out to race. No thinking, just focused on keeping a smile on my face through marshalling to quell the nerves and remind myself how special it is to represent New Zealand again.' Also in the 50m butterfly event was teenager Zoe Pedersen on her Aquablack debut, At 18, she is young enough to qualify for the World Juniors to be held next month. This month's championships were a learning experience for her. She placed 24= in a time that would have medalled at the last World Juniors. 'I'm super happy with what I've been able to take away from this team and my swim, watching some of our best swimmers on the world stage has been an incredible opportunity.' Pedersen says. 'I'm excited to be able to implement the things I've learned from this trip at the World Juniors and have the opportunity to support my junior teammates in a couple of weeks.' While Fairweather was unable to defend her world title due to the disqualification, on the men's side, neither was Lewis Clareburt, in the 400m individual medley. He missed the final, placing 10th. However, he got his highest ever world championship placing in the 200m individual medley, fifth, breaking his New Zealand record set at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.


Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Fairweather cruises into 200m semis
Erika Fairweather races in the women's 200m freestyle semifinal at the world championships in Singapore. Erika Fairweather made lightning-quick work of booking her spot in another world championship final. The former Dunedin swimmer breezed through the women's 200m freestyle semifinal in Singapore on Tuesday night, clocking in at 1min 55.52sec. It was the fourth-best time of her career and just 0.08sec off her New Zealand record set in April 2023. Fairweather, who now races for North Shore after moving to Auckland earlier this year, finished her heat third behind American Claire Weinstein and Australian Mollie O'Callaghan. The 21-year-old was the third seed heading into last night's final, the same event in which she won silver at the world championships last year. It was a good response from Fairweather, who was earlier denied the chance to defend her 400m freestyle world title — her specialist event — after she was disqualified for moving on the blocks. Kiwi Lewis Clareburt pushed the entire way in the men's 200m butterfly semifinal to finish with a personal best of 1min 55.24sec and 10th overall. "It's been three years since I clocked that personal best so I'm extremely happy," Clareburt said. "It obviously would have been great to get into that final, but it gives me confidence moving forward." He was back in the pool yesterday where he finished second his men's 200m IM heat in 1min 58.19sec to qualify for the semifinal last night. Clareburt met French Olympic champion Leon Marchand in his semifinal. United States great Katie Ledecky collected her sixth world title in the women's 1500m freestyle, finishing in 15min 26.44sec. It is the second medal of the championships for Ledecky, who now has 22 world titles to her name, having earlier won bronze in the women's 400m freestyle. Australian Kaylee McKeown made a dominant return to win gold in a thrilling women's 100m backstroke final. She came from behind to beat American Regan Smith in a championship record time of 57.16sec. McKeown wanted to rediscover her love for the sport after taking time out for mental health reasons post her 100m and 200m backstroke victories at the Paris Olympics. — Additional reporting Reuters

RNZ News
6 days ago
- RNZ News
Swimming: Lewis Clareburt to go head-to-head with Olympic champion in Singapore
Lewis Clareburt into semi-finals at World Aquatic Championships. Photo: AAP Image/Dave Hunt/Photosport Leon Marchand was fastest in the 200 metres individual medley (IM) heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Wednesday as France's Olympic hero made his long-awaited return to the world stage. The four-times Olympic champion glided to a time of one minute, 57.63 seconds, 0.11 ahead of Japan's Kosuke Makino, in an encouraging start to his bid for a third world title in the event and a possible world record. Exhausted after the Paris Games, Marchand skipped the short course world championships in Hungary last December and suffered injuries before returning to the pool for the TYR Pro Series in Florida in May. He is swimming a reduced programme in Singapore, focusing on the 200 and 400 IM alone for individual events as he works through what he calls a "transition year". Aqua Black Lewis Clareburt was ninth fastest after the 200 IM heats and will race in the same semi-final as Marchand on Thursday morning (NZT). Summer McIntosh is on the other end of the spectrum as she looks to match Michael Phelps's record of five individual gold medals from a single world championships. Having already won two of them, the 200 IM and 400 freestyle, the 18-year-old Canadian started her bid for the third in the 200 butterfly on day four with the fastest swim in the heats (2:07.07). American Regan Smith was third quickest into the semi-finals, more than a second behind McIntosh, while China's 12-year-old wunderkind Yu Zidi was fifth fastest (2:08.95). Three years after winning the 100 and 200 freestyle in Budapest, Romania's David Popovici is eyeing another double in the sprints. The 20-year-old Olympic bronze medallist was fastest in the 100 heats in 47.41, the morning after his 200 triumph in Singapore. Olympic champion and world record holder Pan Zhanle (47.86), and runner-up Kyle Chalmers (47.48) were among eight swimmers under the 48-second barrier on the way to the evening semi-finals. Canada's Kylie Masse qualified fastest for the women's 50 backstroke semi-finals with a time of 27.46. Regan Smith and fellow American Katharine Berkoff, who medalled in the 100 behind winner Kaylee McKeown, were also safely through. Australia's world record holder McKeown skipped the event. The session finished with a shock as Olympic champions the United States failed to reach the final of the 4x100 mixed medley. Several U.S. swimmers have not been at their best in Singapore after a bout of food poisoning swept through the team's pre-meet camp in Thailand. France and Britain also missed out but Italy emerged quickest in the heats in a time of 3:42.19, ahead of the Netherlands and China. Fourth-quickest Australia are also a chance for a medal in the evening final. Five golds will be up for grabs in the evening session, with Australian Olympic champion Mollie O'Callaghan bidding for a second 200 freestyle title in a final in which Aqua Black Erika Fairweather will also be competing. The men's 800 freestyle final will feature Ireland's Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen battling a stacked field including Australian Sam Short and Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi. - Reuters/RNZ