On Tuesday, 14-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams picked up a straight-set win over Peyton Stearns at the Citi Open in DC, earning her first singles win since 2023 and securing her spot in the Round of 16.
During her on-court interview moments later, Williams spoke about how her fiancé, Andrea Preti, had never seen her pick up a win. Additionally, as she joked, she needed to return to the WTA tour to hold onto her health insurance:
“I had to come back for the insurance. They informed me earlier this year that I’m on COBRA. So I was like ‘I got to get my benefits on,’ and started training. […] You guys know what it’s like, insurance is hard, and let me tell you I’m always at the doctor, so I need this insurance.”
With her win, the 45-year-old legend becomes just the second-oldest woman to record a singles match win in the open era, putting her behind only Martina Navratilova, who advanced to the second round of Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 47.
The WTA legend will now take on Magdalena Frech in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
While Venus Williams was able to pick up a big singles win on Tuesday, she and fellow American Hailey Baptiste came up short in their doubles match on Wednesday, falling to Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai in three sets.
Maria Sakkari Stuns Emma Navarro
On Wednesday, former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari, who entered this year’s Citi Open via wild card with a ranking of No. 90 in the world, picked up a massive win against No. 2 seed Emma Navarro.
Throughout the match, Sakkari played some of her best tennis in recent memory, saving all three break points she faced in the straight-set win while pushing her head-to-head record against Navarro to 3-1.
The match wound up providing fans with a viral moment where Sakkari took some time to save a bug on the court, only for it to be stepped on by one of the ball people moments later.
Following the win, which was Maria Sakkari’s first top 20 win on a hard court since last March, when she defeated Coco Gauff to advance to the Final against Iga Swiatek.
Sakkari will now meet the winner of tomorrow’s Emma Raducanu vs. Naomi Osaka match on Friday in the quarterfinal.
Andrey Rublev Upset By Learner Tien
In addition to local favorite Frances Tiafoe picking up a big win during Wednesday’s evening session, American Next-Gen standout Learner Tien picked up a big win of his own over No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev.
The straight set win marks Tien’s fourth win over top-10 seeded players in 2025, building on previous wins over Daniil Medvedev (AO), Alexander Zverev (Acapulco), and Ben Shelton (Mallorca).
Throughout the match, Rublev seemed to struggle in big moments, failing to convert on three set points in the first set while up 5-4 before then failing to convert on three break points at 3-2, 0-40 in the second set.
On the flip side, Tien showed poise when it mattered most as he became the youngest American to advance to the third round in DC since 2008.
Tien will now collide with No. 12 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Thursday in the Round of 16.
With Venus Williams back in action tomorrow in addition to top-ranked Americans Taylor Fritz, and Ben Shelton, Thursday’s slate of play seems poised to deliver fireworks.
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