Venus Williams exits in first round of Madrid Open

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Jamaica Observer

MADRID, Spain (AFP)—Venus Williams was knocked out of the Madrid Open in the first round on Tuesday as the 45-year-old went down in straight sets to Kaitlin Quevedo.The 20-year-old Spanish wild card beat the seven-time Grand Slam champion 6-2, 6-4.Ranked 479th in the world, Williams has now lost all seven matches she has played this season. It was her first match on clay since Roland Garros five years ago.Every game was closely contested in a first set marked by numerous unforced errors due to the wind blowing across the Estadio Manolo Santana but the world number 140, playing in her first 1000-level event, was the more consistent of the two.Williams got off to a better start in the second set, taking a 3-0 lead, before Quevedo began to fight back and the match was then interrupted by rain while the roof over the centre court was closed.Quevedo won five consecutive games to seal her passage to the second round.Last year's French Open sensation Lois Boisson lost 6-1, 6-3 to American Peyton Stearns in just over an hour on her return from injury.Boisson, who lit up Roland Garros with her stunning run to the semi-finals as the world number 361, won only four games in her first match since September.Stearns goes on to play top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning champion and three-time winner in Madrid.Earlier, former world number two Paula Badosa lost 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-0 to Julia Grabher as the Spaniard exited her hometown event in the opening round.Beatriz Haddad Maia, a 2023 Roland Garros semi-finalist, went out 6-1, 6-1 to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.