Venus Williams' losing streak stretches to 10 after defeat to Quevedo in Madrid

Venus Williams was beaten 6-2 6-4 by home favourite Kaitlin Quevedo in the first round of the Madrid Open, extending her losing streak to 10 matches.

It looked as though the seven-time grand slam champion, who was handed a wildcard for the first clay-court WTA 1000 event of the year, might force a decider after she went 3-0 up in the second set.

But that momentum dissipated, and her first match on clay since the 2021 French Open ended in a one-hour, 42-minute defeat.

A topsy-turvy opening set featured four breaks of serve, with three of those going Quevedo's way.

Williams fought back at the start of the second, breaking Quevedo in between two hard-fought holds, but she could not maintain that level.

The American failed to win a point in back-to-back games, including one on serve, and after Quevedo got another break to go 4-3 up, she strung together two routine holds to get over the line.

Venus makes unwanted history

Williams has now lost 10 straight matches dating back to a victory over Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open last July.

Since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975, Williams is the first former world number one to ever endure a 10-match losing streak.

Quevedo, in winning her first WTA 1000 match, became the youngest Spanish player (20 years, 67 days) to win a main-draw match at the Madrid Open, surpassing Garbine Muguruza (20 years, 209 days) in 2014.