Latest news with #ATPDCOpen
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
DC Open 2025: Top seed Fritz falls in quarterfinals
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early Saturday morning marathon to Spain's Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina in the semifinals of the ATP DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2:00 am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to a Saturday semifinal against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six double faults, served for the match in the ninth and was up 30-0 but lost, then failed to take advantage of three double faults by Davidovich-Fokina in the 10th game. The other men's semifinal will send French lucky loser Corentin Moutet against Australian seventh seed Alex De Minaur, who eliminated American Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-4. Moutet withstood leg cramps to eliminate eighth seed Daniil Medvedev 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. 'I tried to survive every point because it was hard physically,' Moutet said after fighting off leg cramps. 'I'm just proud of myself.'
Kuwait Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
Venus Williams returns with doubles win at DC Open
Seven-time Grand Slam champ makes triumphant return after 16-month hiatus WASHINGTON: Seven-time Grand Slam single champion Venus Williams returned to competitive tennis after a 16-month hiatus on Monday with a doubles victory at the WTA and ATP DC 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.' 'I think also just to get the feel for the ball. Obviously singles I have a little more experience even though doubles I have had some great results,' she said. 'It's just nice to be able to play. Where I am at this year is so much different where I was at last year. It's night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago.' Durant in attendance 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.' 'I was, like, 'I want to show KD what I can do. Hit the ball to me,'' Williams said. 'They hit every ball to you. I was, like, OK, whatever. However we win is fine.' For Williams, who battled health issues during much of her layoff, just being back on the court was a victory. 'I just want to be healthy. You can play all the matches in the world, can you do all the things in the world, but when your health is gone or when your opportunities are being taken away, it just puts a whole new perspective,' Williams said. 'I wasn't even thinking about tennis at that point,' she said. 'Just wanted to have a successful surgery that I lived through. Tennis is a game, it's our life, literally our obsession, it's actually a cult, I think. But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if your health is not there. Definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer.' 'She's such a legend' Williams said she enjoys sharing her emotions with spectators after a triumph. 'It's so much work,' she said. 'I've been training for months to get to this moment, and then you train to be prepared to win in this moment, but it's not a guarantee. You don't win until that final point is over. It's important to share those emotions with the crowd.' Bouchard will retire next week in Canada and was pleased for one last meeting with Williams. 'To play against her one last time is fun and special,' Bouchard said. 'I was like kudos to you to keep kicking it. She's 14 years older than me and still plugging away. I have nothing but respect for her. She's such a legend.' — AFP
Daily Tribune
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Tribune
Venus Williams wins doubles comeback match at DC Open
AFP | Washington Seven-time Grand Slam single champion Venus Williams returned to competitive tennis after a 16-month hiatus on Monday with a doubles victory at the WTA and ATP DC 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 firstround 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. 'I think also just to get the feel for the ball. Obviously singles I have a little more experience even though doubles I have had some great results. 'It's just nice to be able to play. Where I am at this year is so much different where I was at last year. It's night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago.' Williams was set to make her return to singles later yesterday 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.' 'I was, like, 'I want to show KD what I can do. Hit the ball to me,'' Williams said. 'They hit every ball to you. I was, like, OK, whatever. However we win is fine.'
LeMonde
7 days ago
- Sport
- LeMonde
Venus Williams, 45, makes triumphant return to singles tennis
Venus Williams made a magical return to singles tennis on Tuesday after a 16-month hiatus, defeating fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the WTA and ATP DC Open. The 45-year-old winner of seven career Grand Slam singles titles rolled to her 819th career WTA singles victory in 97 minutes at the first US Open hardcourt tuneup event. "It is not easy to come off after all that time and play the perfect match," she said. "Peyton played so well. I felt like I was trying to slow myself down from going faster and faster and faster." Williams had not played a WTA singles match since March of last year at Miami and had not won a match in 709 days – since defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the first round at Cincinnati in August 2023. "I wanted to play a good match and win the match," Williams said. "It's so rewarding to come back after a layoff and injuries." Williams became the oldest player to compete in a WTA tour-level match since Japan's Kimiko Date at 46 in Tokyo in 2017. She became the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova at age 47 at Wimbledon in 2004. "Thank you so much for the energy," Williams told the crowd. "We were literally living and dying together." Williams broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set, winning nine of 10 points in one stretch, then held to 5-3 and pushed Stearns in a 12-minute ninth game but missed on four match points before Stearns held. Williams smashed a service winner on her sixth match point for the triumph, booking a second-round date with Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. "I'm back here because of the encouragement of my team and they wanted me to come on back and play again so a lot of this is for you guys," Williams told spectators. "You guys don't know how much work goes into this. It's nine to five but you're running the whole time, lifting weights and then you're like dying – and then you repeat it the next day." Japan's Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5, to book a second-round match against Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner who eliminated Ukraine's seventh-seeded Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. "I'm excited about it," Osaka said. "I've never played her before, so for me, that's something really cool too. Because I've seen her, I guess when she first did well at Wimbledon before she won the US Open, moments like that, and I knew she was a good player." "I'm looking forward to the match," Raducanu said. "It will be a great test of my own game and myself."
NDTV
7 days ago
- Sport
- NDTV
Venus Williams Wins In Return, Naomi Osaka To Face Emma Raducanu At DC Open
Venus Williams made a triumphant return to singles tennis on Tuesday after a 16-month hiatus, defeating fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the WTA and ATP DC Open. The 45-year-old winner of seven career Grand Slam singles titles rolled to her 819th career WTA singles victory in 97 minutes at the first US Open hardcourt tuneup event. "It is not easy to come off after all that time and play the perfect match," she said. "Peyton played so well. I felt like I was trying to slow myself down from going faster and faster and faster." Williams had not played a WTA singles match since March of last year at Miami and had not won a match in 709 days -- since defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the first round at Cincinnati in August 2023. "I wanted to play a good match and win the match," Williams said. "It's so rewarding to come back after a layoff and injuries." Williams became the oldest player to compete in a WTA tour-level match since Japan's Kimiko Date at 46 in Tokyo in 2017. She became the oldest WTA match winner since Martina Navratilova at age 47 at Wimbledon in 2004. "Thank you so much for the energy," Williams told the crowd. "We were literally living and dying together." Williams broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set, winning nine of 10 points in one stretch, then held to 5-3 and pushed Stearns in a 12-minute ninth game but missed on four match points before Stearns held. Williams smashed a service winner on her sixth match point for the triumph, booking a second-round date with Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. "I'm back here because of the encouragement of my team and they wanted me to come on back and play again so a lot of this is for you guys," Williams told spectators. "You guys don't know how much work goes into this. It's nine to five but you're running the whole time, lifting weights and then you're like dying -- and then you repeat it the next day." Japan's Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5, to book a second-round match against Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner who eliminated Ukraine's seventh-seeded Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. "I'm excited about it," Osaka said. "I've never played her before, so for me, that's something really cool too. Because I've seen her, I guess when she first did well at Wimbledon before she won the US Open, moments like that, and I knew she was a good player." "I'm looking forward to the match," Raducanu said. "It will be a great test of my own game and myself." Norrie beats Musetti Britain's Cameron Norrie rallied to defeat world number seven Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Norrie, seeking his sixth ATP title, captured his first victory over a top-10 player in 2 1/2 years. "I made it very difficult for him," Norrie said. "My backhand was coming through the court low. My forehand was jumping. I'm just enjoying my tennis a lot more these days." Norrie, whose most recent title was in February 2023 at Rio, snapped a 14-match losing streak against top-10 foes. Wimbledon quarter-finalist Norrie next faces US 14th seed Brandon Nakashima.
