DC Open: Maria Sakkari reaches QFs, Venus Williams's doubles campaign ends

WASHINGTON — Maria Sakkari scored a 7-5, 7-6 (1) win over Emma Navarro to advance to the quarterfinals of the DC Open. Sakkari, who received a wild card into the main draw, has now won three of four career matches against the 24-year-old American.

She’ll next play the winner of Thursday’s match between Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu on Friday.

This year has been difficult for Sakkari before beating Navarro, as she had lost 11 of 13 matches to seeded players in 2025. Now, she’s looking for a slice of history, trying to emulate the feats of Paula Badosa (2024) and Nadia Petrova (20112), who won the title here as wild cards. WTA reports.

Elsewhere, in her tournament debut, No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina defeated teenage wild card Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-5 to make the quarterfinals.

In the women's doubles, No. 2 seeds Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai narrowly defeated wild cards Hailey Baptiste and Venus Williams to reach the DC Open doubles quarterfinals.

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Venus Williams becomes second-oldest woman to win tour-level singles match

After winning her doubles match on Monday and singles on Tuesday night, Venus finally came back to earth as Townsend and Zheng were 6-4, 3-6, (10-6) winners over Venus and Baptiste.

Before another packed house on John Harris Court, it was an entertaining match until the winner asserted itself in the final frame. With a lunging Townsend volley, they converted their second match point.

Earlier, Venus, who had accepted a main-draw singles wild card, became the second-oldest woman ever to win a tour-level singles match at the age of 45 when she was a forceful 6-3, 6-4 winner over Peyton Stearns in an all-American first-round showdown to advance to a second-round match against No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech. 

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams is the oldest player to win a tour-level singles match since 47-year-old Martina Navratilova defeated Catalina Castano at Wimbledon in 2004, more than 21 years ago.