Venus Williams sees record-breaking Australian Open return end in heartbreak

Venus Williams made history by stepping onto the court at the Australian Open but was denied a winning return as Serbia’s Olga Danilovic won the final six games in a row to triumph in a three-set thriller.

At 45, Williams became the oldest woman to compete in the tournament after accepting a wildcard into the main draw and returning to Melbourne for the first time in five years.

She looked to be on course for victory as she took a 4-0 lead in the final set, but Danilovic, 23, stormed back to deny Williams a place in the second-round, winning 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.

The seven-time grand slam champion first played at the Australian Open in 1998, when she was 17, and did not realise she would be making history when she accepted a wildcard into the tournament.

Williams made her comeback to tennis last summer and entered the US Open in both singles and doubles, where she and Leylah Fernandez reached the quarter-finals in September.

Williams married her husband Andrea Preti in December but she said been “training non-stop those three months” before then as she prepared to make the trip to Australia for the first time since 2021.

The American reached two singles finals in Melbourne, losing both to her sister Serena Williams in 2003 and 2017. But she is also a four-time champion in the doubles event.

On the idea of becoming the oldest woman to play in the Australian Open, Williams said: “I hadn’t thought about it until it came out in the press. So yay. Yay for me! Let’s do this.”