{"id":415913,"date":"2026-01-19T01:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415913\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T01:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:05:14","slug":"at-45-venus-williams-sets-record-at-australian-open-but-falls-in-the-1st-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415913\/","title":{"rendered":"At 45, Venus Williams sets record at Australian Open but falls in the 1st round"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took 45 years to be in a position to set a record that has drawn so much attention. So another 14 1\/2 minutes serving to keep her Australian Open hopes alive felt like no time at all for Venus Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ranked No. 576 and playing on a wild-card entry, the seven-time major winner led 4-0 in the third set Sunday before Olga Danilovic rallied to win six straight games \u2014 getting the vital break in the extra-long, next-to-last game \u2014 for a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 victory.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was an amazing journey on the court today,\u201d said Williams, who left the stadium with a smile and a wave.<\/p>\n

Just by starting the first-round match, Williams became the oldest woman to compete in an Australian Open singles main draw<\/a>, surpassing the mark set by Japan\u2019s Kimiko Date<\/a>, who was 44 when she lost in the first round in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of my effort today because I\u2019m playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to,\u201d Williams said. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself and working to control my errors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are things, too, that come with playing extra matches \u2026 all of those things that I\u2019m still learning. It\u2019s kind of weird, but it\u2019s super exciting to have played that well and to get myself in that position and come very close.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She was 17 when she first made her Australian Open debut in 1998, reaching the quarterfinals. This was her 22nd trip to Melbourne Park, where she lost finals to her sister, Serena, in 2003 and 2017.<\/p>\n

Williams was married in December<\/a> to Andrea Preti and the couple traveled together in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\"Serbia's<\/p>\n

Serbia’s Olga Danilovic shakes Venus Williams’ hand after their women’s singles match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament. – Martin Keep\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Williams was determined not just to break Date\u2019s age record. She wanted to punctuate the occasion with a win that may just set up another match against Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n

After splitting the first two sets, Williams went on a roll and dropped just five points across four games, hitting some vintage winners. Then No. 68-ranked Danilovic found range with her big left-handed forehand returns and put Williams back under pressure.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI told myself before the match I really want to take this moment \u2014 playing against Venus Williams is something I can\u2019t take for granted,\u201d Danilovic said. \u201cAt 4-0, I said \u2018just play.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a pleasure playing against such a legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 4-4 in the deciding set, Williams served for 14 minutes and 28 seconds, saving two break points and setting up game points of her own with powerful winners and clutch aces, before she finally succumbed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a great game, such a great moment. The energy from the crowd was amazing. That lifted me up so much,\u201d Williams said of that penultimate game on her serve. \u201cShe played a great game. Also, some luck there, as well. That\u2019s just the sport. That\u2019s how it works sometimes. But it was an amazing moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Venus<\/p>\n

Venus Williams acknowledges the applause as she walks off the court after losing to Olga Danilovic. – Martin Keep\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Danilovic calmly served out, clinching it in 2 hours, 17 minutes when a Williams forehand clipped the net and landed just wide of the line on match point.<\/p>\n

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Williams entered the Australian Open on a five-match losing streak since the first and only win in her comeback to the tour at Washington last year. Her U.S. Open <\/a>comeback last August also ended in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, at 4-love I felt good. Also, it\u2019s the biggest lead I\u2019ve had since I\u2019ve been back,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIn a lot of ways I\u2019m having to relearn how to do things again, if that makes any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll keep that process going in the doubles at Melbourne Park, then she\u2019ll think about her schedule for the rest of 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now I\u2019m very much in the tournament,\u201d she said. \u201cMy next focus is the doubles. So that\u2019s where my head is.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took 45 years to be in a position to set a record that has drawn so much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12083,199164,171049,64668,99,428,9518],"class_list":{"0":"post-415913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-australian-open","9":"tag-kimiko-date","10":"tag-melbourne-park","11":"tag-olga-danilovic","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-venus-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}