Guangzhou, China — Venus Williams fell to 0-13 in singles matches this year at the age of 46, losing 6-2, 6-2 to 18-year-old Austrian Lilli Tagger in the first round of the Guangzhou Open on Tuesday.
The 28-year age gap between the two players is reportedly a record difference between opponents in a WTA Tour match. Tagger was born in 2008, the year Williams won the last of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon.
A Difficult Return to the Court
Now ranked No. 599, Williams played her first singles match in two months, since she lost in the first round of the US Open to Sofia Kenin. She has now lost 16 straight singles matches on tour, dating back to July last year.
The match was closer on the statistics than the scoreline suggests. Williams and the 53rd-ranked Tagger each landed 63% of their first serves. Williams won just 60% of the points behind her first serve, while Tagger won all of hers.
Break Point Struggles
Williams created no break-point chances during the match. Tagger, by contrast, took four of the 16 she had.
Kenin also exited the tournament, losing her round of 32 match 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 to Kaitlin Quevedo.