Venus Williams loses again: 17 straight defeats

Venus Williams lost 6-2, 6-3 to fellow American Mary Stoiana in the first round of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Monday, November 2, in one hour and seventeen minutes. It is her 17th consecutive singles defeat, and she has not won a match since July 2025.

Williams, 46 and ranked No. 597 in the world, did not earn a single break point against the 23-year-old Stoiana. Her last win remains a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Peyton Stearns in the first round in Washington.

With 17 straight losses, Williams matches Sandy Collins and Arantxa Rus for third place among the longest losing streaks of the Open era in women's tennis. Ahead of them are Zhang Shuai, whose run stopped at 24 before she broke through in Beijing in 2024, and Madeleine Pegel, who lost 29 between 1968 and 1972.

The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion reached the semifinals in Hong Kong in 2015 and had not played there since 2017.