“Doesn’t always work” Venus Williams goes down fighting in her season debut to Rebecca Marino in the Citi Open

Former World No. 1 Venus Williams returned to action in the singles discipline at the 2022 Citi Open in Washington DC in what was her season debut but it was not a successful one as she lost to qualifier Rebecca Marino. The Canadian won the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 after a good battle between the two players of 1 hour and 52 minutes.

Venus started brilliantly taking the first set and moving closer to the win but Rebecca came clutch in the second set using her superior form and athleticism to serve a breadstick to the American in the second set. With all-to-play for in the final set, Venus’s lack of discipline with her 6 double faults in the 3rd set and 13 in the match proved to be too costly as she also failed to win any of the 2 breakpoints in the third set while managing to save only 2 breakpoints with the lost breakpoint turning the match in Marino’s favour.

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“Just a little rusty”: Venus Williams

Venus had the crowd behind her back as she was the local player but to the disappointment of her and the fans, the 7-time Grand Slam champion went down fighting in the match which was her first match in over a year since she last played in Chicago in August last year.

“Just a little rusty. I really put myself in good positions in the third set, too. Just trying to shake off some rust. That’s just to be expected. All I can do is just play another tournament and play better. I would have liked to succeed in this match for the public and for the tournament. But it doesn’t always work,” said Venus after the match speaking with the press.

With the early defeat in Washington, Venus now has the chance to regroup and look at her mistakes better before travelling to Canada for the 2022 Canadian Open which will be held in Toronto for the WTA Tour this year while the ATP Tour’s event will be taking place in Montreal this year. Venus is yet to win a title in Canada having been a former runner-up in the 2014 edition losing to Agnieszka Radwanska.

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