Venus Williams hits 13-game tennis losing streak with Cincinnati Open exit

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango in the first round of Cincinnati Open.Venus Williams’s losing streak in singles play has reached 13 matches.The seven-time major champion was defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango late on Friday in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Prichard Colon dies from boxing injury that resulted in 221-day comalist 2 of 4La Liga: Five key talking points heading into Barcelona’s 2026-27 seasonlist 3 of 4Head of Trump’s White House Task Force calls Infantino critics ‘jealous’list 4 of 4Arteta assures Arsenal fans over contract before Man City clashend of listThe 46-year-old Williams received a wild-card entry to the WTA 1000 event. She has not won a singles match since July 2025.Arango, a 25-year-old qualifier from Colombia ranked 95th, needed 1 hour, 5 minutes to defeat Williams on the grandstand court at Lindner Tennis Center.Williams had her serve broken in the first game of the match and faced an uphill battle the rest of the way. Arango was 4 of 5 on converting break points and won 71 percent of her first-serve points.Williams was unable to convert on her lone break opportunity and was only 41 percent on first-serve points.“That kind of eased my nerves a little bit of having maybe a little bit of breathing room. And then I think I just did a good job of staying on it, trying to make her play as much as possible,” Arango said about getting ahead early.Arango will face No 7 seed and defending Cincinnati champion Iga Swiatek in the second round.Williams’s last singles victory came last year in Washington, when she defeated Peyton Stearns.“I think that at all times I was really controlling the point, but unfortunately didn’t finish it the way I wanted to,” said Williams, who is making her 11th appearance in the tournament. “The encouraging part is that I’m controlling the shots, but I have to just get a little more consistent on that last part.”