Venus Williams loses in Guangzhou first round, a 16th consecutive defeat

In the first round of the WTA 250 in Guangzhou on Tuesday 27 October, Venus Williams lost 6-2, 6-2 to Austria’s Lilli Tagger, 18, ranked 53rd in the world according to RMC Sport. It was the 16th consecutive singles defeat for the 46-year-old American, whose last win came in the first round of the WTA 500 in Washington in July 2025.

Twenty-eight years apart

Twenty-eight years separated the two players on Tuesday, the biggest age gap in a WTA match this decade and one of the widest in the tour’s history, according to BBC Sport. The broadcaster also describes the American’s routine: wild cards to enter main draws, and thirteen defeats in as many matches in 2026. A former world number one with seven Grand Slam singles titles, five of them at Wimbledon, she now sits 599th in the rankings.

The Washington win recedes

RMC Sport recalls that Williams returned to the tour about a year and a half ago, after surgery for uterine fibroids, and that she has not won back-to-back singles matches since Cincinnati in August 2019. That win in Washington made her the second oldest player to win a match on the WTA tour, behind Martina Navratilova, who won at 47 in 2004.

Her next tournament has not been announced. The Guangzhou crowd gave her an ovation as she left the court, BBC Sport reports; Lilli Tagger, for her part, is still in the draw. As long as organisers keep handing her wild cards, the streak has another match to run.