Venus Williams falls in Cincinnati Open first round to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro

CINCINNATI, Ohio—Venus Williams enjoyed a raucous reception to her Cincinnati Open homecoming, but the former world No. 1 was unable to emerge with a win, suffering a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the first round.

Williams accepted a wild card into her first WTA 1000 tournament since the 2024 Miami Open, having made a winning return to action last month at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Despite flashes of the form that earned her seven Grand Slam titles, the 45-year-old ultimately exited Center Court after one hour and 27 minutes on Thursday.

**Stream V. Williams vs. J. Bouzas Maneiro on the Tennis Channel App**

Ranked No. 51 in the world, Bouzas Maneiro made her Top 50 debut last month after earning a career-best Grand Slam result at Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round. Still, the 22-year-old is relatively inexperienced against the game’s best players, taking on just six Top 10 players thus far.

Experience is one thing Williams doesn’t lack, the American kicking off her 31st year on tour eager to employ her months of practice onto the match court in Queen City.

“If there’s the one thing I know, it’s that you’re never too young or too old to win or to lose,” Williams said in her Media Day press conference on Wednesday. “Winning and losing knows no age. All that matters is that, for me, I’m prepared and ready. The longer I play and the more I get into it, and the more I train, the better I get.”

Williams showed off some of that experience in the first set, roaring back from a double-break down to level the contest at four games apiece. But a poor service game handed the break back to Bouzas Maneiro, who saved a break point to put herself a set from the second round.

A similar shift of momentum occurred in the second set when Williams reversed an 0-2 deficit and kept things close despite another exchange of breaks.

But the 4-4 game once more proved Williams' undoing as Bouzas Maneiro claimed the crucial break to find herself serving for the match.

The Spaniard earned three match points at 40-0; Williams lit up the crowd once more as she saved one with a thunderous forehand putaway, but Bouzas Maneiro would not be denied and secured victory on her second match point.

Up next for Bouzas Maneiro will be No. 21 seed and Mubadala Citi DC Open champion Leylah Fernandez, who received a first-round bye. As for Williams, the two-time US Open champion is set to compete as a wild card in mixed doubles alongside Reilly Opelka. Whether she competes again in singles this season remains to be seen, though Williams suggested she was unlike to enter tournaments after the US Open.