Venus Williams loses in straight sets to Bouzas Maneiro in 1st round at Cincinnati Open

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CINCINNATI (AP) — Venus Williams, who returned to tennis last month after being away from the sport for more than a year, lost to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.

“Just coming back, not everything's going to be perfect,” Williams said. “From DC, I took a lot of things physically. I played four matches in four days. So in that last week, I really worked on the physical side. And, so after this match, I felt great and that's a plus.”

Next up for the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion is the U.S. Open, where she received a wild-card entry with Reilly Opelka to play mixed doubles beginning Aug. 19. Williams has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Serena and another two in mixed doubles.

The 51st-ranked Bouzas Maneiro, who wasn’t born when Williams won her first four Grand Slam titles, advanced to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal match last week in Montreal. It was their first meeting.

“She's a legend,” Bouzas Maneiro said. “This was a privilege. I tried to do my best on court and enjoy every moment. It's an honor to play against her. She's an inspiration for young players.”

With the crowd on her side, Williams pushed the 22-year-old Spaniard but struggled with her service game.

“She played super well,” Williams said. “She's got a great future ahead of her, clearly. I was just trying to figure things out as quickly as I could and I just ran out of time. Walking into this match, I felt good.”

Williams, who is one year removed from uterine surgery, became the oldest woman to win a WTA match in more than two decades when she defeated Peyton Stearns last month at the DC Open. It was her first tournament in 16 months and her first win since the 2023 Cincinnati Open.

Williams was making her 11th appearance at the Cincinnati Open, where she reached the semifinals in 2012 and quarterfinals in 2019. She has spent 11 weeks ranked No. 1.

“I had so much fun out there,” Williams said. “There were moments where I had a lot of chances and there were moments where I was working through the kinks. But there was never a moment where I didn’t go for it.”

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