WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Venus Williams lost her first singles match of 2026 to fifth seed Magda Linette at a WTA Tour event in Auckland, New Zealand.
The 45-year-old Williams put on a brilliant game and ultimately lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to No. 52 Linette, who was only two years old when Williams competed in his first professional singles match.
Tuesday’s match was Williams’ 1,101st singles match on the WTA Tour. But her competitiveness against players 12 years her junior will give her confidence when she heads to Australia for the Hobart International and Australian Open.
The seven-time major champion has received a wild card to the Auckland Championship, the tournament in Hobart from January 12 and the first major of the year at Melbourne Park.
The Auckland match was Williams’ first match since losing 6-3, 2-6, 5-1 to Karolina Muchova in the first round of the U.S. Open last August. She competed in just three matches in 2025, defeating Payton Stearns in July to become the second-oldest woman to win a match on the WTA Tour (after Martina Navratilova).
Williams looked fit and moved well, firing seven aces and both sides playing well.
“Look at the level she brings. Her moves are really good,” Linette said in a courtside television interview. “She plays really well, especially when she’s running into the open space.
“It was really impressive and I really had to stay calm. She pushes you to a place you don’t want to be and that’s where I was for a while, so I’m really happy that I was able to bounce back and come back with a better game.”
Williams, ranked No. 582 this week, has been a regular in Oakland in the latter part of her career. She defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the 2015 final to win her 41st of 46 WTA Tour titles. She told reporters she didn’t feel any pressure this year.
“The biggest stress is what we put on ourselves, right?” Williams said. “Then you look back and you think, ‘It wasn’t a big deal.’
“So hopefully I can look back in the moment with 20/20 vision and just like let go, let it flow, enjoy it and live in the moment. That’s not easy to do and that’s why people love sports, right?”
Williams started strongly, winning the first ace in the first service game. In the fifth game, she was broken by Linette and recovered from falling behind 5-2. Linette won the first set in 51 minutes.
In the second set, Williams broke serve in the sixth and tenth games. She hit hard to the corner and then was able to score a sharp winner from the baseline. She also went online effectively.
Linette broke serve decisively in the fifth game of the third set.
Williams teamed up with Auckland’s top seed Elina Svitolina in doubles on Monday and lost to Eva Jovic and Alexandra Ella 7-6 (7), 6-1. Later Tuesday, Svitolina will play her first singles match.
