Venus Williams suffered her 17th loss in a row in singles tennis with a straight-sets defeat to a player half her age at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open last night.
The 46-year-old former world number one went down 6-2, 6-3 to fellow American Mary Stoiana in the opening round at the Victoria Park Tennis Centre.
Williams, now ranked 597, let out a yell and stumbled when chasing a return in the first set, just about managing to stay on her feet but going down 5-2.
Stoiana, who is ranked 113, faced a crowd heavily in her opponent’s favor but refused to relent in the second set to condemn Williams to another early exit.
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, last won a singles match on the WTA Tour in July 2025.
She lost in straight sets at the Guangzhou Open to Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger last week. Before that, Williams last played at the US Open in August-September, when she lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin.
Williams reached the semi-finals of the Guangzhou doubles with Indonesia’s Janice Tjen. She is also in doubles action in Hong Kong.
Stoiana, 23, faces Romanian top seed Sorana Cirstea or Uzbek Maria Timofeeva in the last 16.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
