Venus Williams has lost in her first WTA Tour semifinal in eight years

FILE - Venus Williams, of the United States, hits a return as she plays a women's doubles match with partner Serena Williams against Hao-Ching Chan, of Taiwan, and Maya Joint, at the U.S. Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)

GUANGZHOU, China (AP) — Venus Williams has lost in her first WTA Tour semifinal in eight years.

The 46-year-old Williams and her Indonesian playing partner Janice Tjen lost to Polina Kuderemetova and Maria Timofeeva 6-4, 6-7 (8), 10-6 in the Guangzhou Open doubles semifinals on Saturday.

It marked Williams’ first WTA Tour doubles semifinal appearance since the 2016 Rio Olympics and Wimbledon, and her first overall tour semifinal since 2018 at Indian Wells, California.

Williams was given wild-card entries in both singles and doubles for the WTA 250 tournament in Guangzhou. She lost in singles 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday to teenager Lilli Tagger in the first round.

Tagger, an 18-year-old Austrian player, was born in 2008, the year Williams won the last of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon.

Now ranked No. 599 in singles, Williams was playing her first singles match for two months since the U.S. Open, where she lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin.

Williams has lost 16 straight singles matches on tour going back to July 2025.

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