HOBART, Australia — Venus Williams misplaced 6-4, 6-3 to Tatjana Maria within the first spherical on the Hobart Worldwide on Tuesday, lower than every week earlier than her look on the Australian Open.
Williams, 45, obtained a wild-card entry for the primary Grand Slam occasion of the yr. She additionally had a wild card to play in Hobart, the place she misplaced to sixth-seeded Maria in a match lasting virtually 1½ hours.
Williams additionally misplaced her first-round match in Auckland, New Zealand, final week.
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The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, who’s 576th on the earth rankings, broke 38-year-old Maria’s serve within the opening set. However Williams dropped serve twice, handing the set to Maria, who’s forty second on the WTA rankings.
A single service break within the second set was sufficient for Maria to clinch victory.
Williams has reached the Australian Open singles last twice — in 2003 and 2017 — dropping to her sister Serena each occasions.
The Australian Open begins Sunday. Williams has not performed at Melbourne Park for 5 years and can break the age file held by Kimiko Date, the Japanese participant who was 44 when she performed on the 2015 Australian Open.
In one other first-round lead to Hobart, two-time main winner Barbora Krejčíková misplaced to Peyton Stearns. Krejčíková, ranked fifty fifth and unseeded in Hobart, misplaced to Stearns 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4).
