Venus Williams has become the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis with a powerful return.

Williams delivered some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 to beat Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — 6-3 6-4 in front of an adoring crowd at the DC Open on Tuesday (local time).

It was her first singles victory in nearly two years – and the only older woman to win a match was Martina Navratilova at 47 in 2004.

The former No.1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match anywhere since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn’t won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as “inactive.”

“It is not easy,” Williams said, “to [come back] after all that time and play the perfect match.”

But backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hardcourt tournament in the US national capital, Williams showed glimpses of her talent and the skills she displayed while earning all of her grand slam titles: Seven in singles, 14 in women’s doubles — all alongside younger sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles.

“I wanted to play a good match,” she told the fans, then added to appreciative roars: “And win the match.”

The first cheer for Williams came as she walked out into the main stadium, a 7000-seat arena that’s more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode to the centre of the court for the formality of the coin toss.

There also were moments where Williams looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken to love.

At the end, it took her a bit of extra effort to close things out. She failed to convert numerous match points but eventually powered a serve that world No.35 Stearns returned into the net.

Williams advances to a second-round match-up against fifth-seeded Pole Magdalena Frech while earlier on Tuesday, Emma Raducanu handed No.7 seed Marta Kostyuk a sixth consecutive loss, defeating her 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

This was the fifth tournament in a row where Kostyuk exited in the first round; she hasn’t won a match since May 11 in Rome.

The 46th-ranked Raducanu, who won the 2021 US Open, will face four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, a 6-2 7-5 winner against Yulia Putintseva, next.

At the hardcourt WTA250 event in Prague meantime, Australia’s Priscilla Hon was beaten 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the first round by Czech Barbora Palicova in a little over two hours.