Venus Williams was eliminated in the doubles semifinals of the UTA 250 tournament in Guangzhou. The 46-year-old American and her partner Janis Tjen from Indonesia lost to Russians Polina Kudermetova and Maria Timofeeva 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-10.
The match was decided in a championship tiebreak after the two pairs exchanged one set each. Kudermetova and Timofeeva took the first part 6-4, and Williams and Tjen tied after a tiebreak in the second set, won by 10-8 points. In the decisive tiebreak, the Russian pair won 10:6.
For Williams, this was her first appearance in a UTA doubles semifinal since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the Wimbledon tournament. She reached the semifinals of a UTA tournament for the first time since 2018, when she played in this phase of the competition in Indian Wells, California.
Williams received a “wild card“ for the singles and doubles schemes in Guangzhou. In singles, she was eliminated in the first round after a 2:6, 2:6 loss to Austrian teenager Lili Tager.
Tager was born in 2008. This is the year Williams won the last of her seven Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon.
After her singles exit, the American is ranked 599th in the world. She has lost her last 16 singles matches on the tour, a streak that dates back to 2025.
The semifinal in Guangzhou remains her best performance at a WTA tournament in eight years. The doubles defeat ended her participation in the competition.