Venus Williams was beaten 6-2 6-4 by home favourite Kaitlin Quevedo in the first round of the Madrid Open, extending her losing streak to 10 matches.
It looked as though the seven-time grand slam champion, who was handed a wildcard for the first clay-court WTA 1000 event of the year, might force a decider after she went 3-0 up in the second set.
But that momentum dissipated, and her first match on clay since the 2021 French Open ended in a one-hour, 42-minute defeat.
A topsy-turvy opening set featured four breaks of serve, with three of those going Quevedo's way.
Williams fought back at the start of the second, breaking Quevedo in between two hard-fought holds, but she could not maintain that level.
The American failed to win a point in back-to-back
games, including one on serve, and after Quevedo got another break to go 4-3 up, she strung together two routine holds to get over the line.
FIRST WTA 1000 MAIN DRAW WIN!!!
— wta (@WTA) April 21, 2026
Kaitlin Quevedo defeats Williams in straight sets in her Madrid main draw debut!#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/a3d5VJxygw
Venus makes unwanted history
Williams has now lost 10 straight matches dating back to a victory over Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open last July.
Since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975, Williams is the first former world number one to ever endure a 10-match losing streak.
Quevedo, in winning her first WTA 1000 match, became the youngest Spanish player (20 years, 67 days) to win a main-draw match at the Madrid Open, surpassing Garbine Muguruza (20 years, 209 days) in 2014.
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