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Venus Williams made history by entering the court at the Australian Open but was denied a winning comeback as Olga Danilovic of Serbia won her last six matches in a row in three sets.<\/p>\n
At age 45, Williams became the oldest woman to compete in a singles tournament after receiving a wild card into the main draw. The seven-time champion, who is back in Melbourne for the first time in five years, got off to a flying start and delighted the crowd by ripping the winner of the semi-final to take the first set in a tiebreak.<\/p>\n
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Danilovic stormed back to win the second set and level the match but Williams looked set for victory, and her first grand slam singles win since 2021 Wimbledon, as she raced to a 4-0 lead in the final set.<\/p>\n
But Danilovic, 24, came back strong to deny Williams a place in the second round, winning 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Williams, who made her Australian Open debut in 1998, at the age of 17, received a standing ovation as she left the court but will again compete in the doubles competition with Ekaterina Alexandrova.<\/p>\n
“It was a great game, a great moment,” Williams said. “The energy from the crowd was amazing. That really lifted me up. He played a great game. And good luck there, too. It’s just a game. It works like that sometimes. But it was an amazing time.”<\/p>\n
Williams didn’t realize she was going to make history when she accepted a wildcard into the tournament. The five-year Wimbledon champion returned to tennis last summer and competed at the US Open in both singles and doubles, where she and Leylah Fernandez reached the quarter-finals in September.<\/p>\n
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Williams married her husband Andrea Preti in December but said she was “training non-stop for those three months” before that as she prepares to travel to Australia for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n
The American has reached two singles finals in Melbourne, losing to her sister Serena Williams in both 2003 and 2017. But he is also a four-time champion in the doubles event.<\/p>\n
Williams also revealed that her return to tennis is not yet over, and revealed that she will play a regular schedule this year.<\/p>\n
“In a lot of ways I’m going to have to relearn how to do things again, if that makes sense,” Williams said. “I’m very proud of my effort today because I’m playing better with each game, I’m getting to the places I want to get to. For now, I have to keep going forward, work on myself and try to control my mistakes.<\/p>\n
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“Those things, too, that come with playing more games, like putting your feet in the right place, choosing the right shots, all those things that I’m still learning. It’s amazing, but it’s so exciting to play well and put myself in that position and get close.<\/p>\n
“I’ll think about what’s next for me. I’ve got this double here, so that’s what I’m focused on right now.”<\/p>\n
Williams would have played Coco Gauff in the second round but Danilovic, who was not even born when Williams made her Australian Open debut in 1998, made a stunning comeback.<\/p>\n
“These things don’t happen every day and playing against Venus Williams is something I will not take lightly,” Danilovic said in his court interview.<\/p>\n
“At 4-0, I said to myself, ‘Just play, just pull everything out and play point by point’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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