MADRID — Venus Williams was knocked out of the Madrid Open in the first round on Tuesday as the 45-year-old went down in straight sets to Kaitlin Quevedo.
The 20-year-old Spanish wild card beat the seven-time Grand Slam champion, 6-2, 6-4.
Ranked 479th in the world, Williams has now lost all seven matches she has played this season. It was her first match on clay since Roland Garros five years ago.
Every game was closely contested in a first set marked by numerous unforced errors due to the wind blowing across the Estadio Manolo Santana but the world No. 140, playing in her first 1000-level event, was the more consistent of the two.
Williams got off to a better start in the second set, taking a 3-0 lead, before Quevedo began to fight back, and the match was then interrupted by rain while the roof over the center court was closed.
Quevedo won five consecutive games to seal her passage to the second round.
Last year’s French Open sensation Lois Boisson lost 6-1, 6-3 to American Peyton Stearns in just over an hour on her return from injury.
Boisson, who lit up Roland Garros with her stunning run to the semifinals as the world No. 361, won only four games in her first match since September.
Stearns goes on to play top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning champion and three-time winner in Madrid.
Earlier, former world No. 2 Paula Badosa lost 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-0 to Julia Grabher as the Spaniard exited her hometown event in the opening round.
Beatriz Haddad Maia, a 2023 Roland Garros semifinalist, went out 6-1, 6-1 to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Meanwhile, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner said his principal aim as he prepares for the Madrid Open is to be in the “best possible shape” for Roland Garros next month as he seeks to complete a career Grand Slam.
The 24-year-old won his first major title on clay earlier this month as he downed rival Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in the Monte Carlo Masters final.
Next he turns his attention to the 1000-level event in Madrid as the clay-court season ramps up toward the only Grand Slam tournament Sinner has not yet won — Roland Garros, which will run from May 24 to June 7. AFP