US Open: Venus Williams comes up short after pushing No. 11 Karolína Muchová to third set at 45 years old

Venus Williams put up a fight.

But she came up short Monday night after pushing No. 11 Karolína Muchová to a third set in the first round of the US Open. Muchová bounced back from a dominant second set by Williams to secure a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win.

With the win, Muchová advances to second-round play on Wednesday. Williams' tournament is over. But she put on show in front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that showed up in force to watch the two-time US Open champion in her first Grand Slam match since 2023.

Williams, who was invited to the tournament as a wild card, dropped her first serve and faced a 3-0 first-set deficit when she spotted Muchová triple break point. But Williams fought back from the 40-0 deficit to win her first game of the match and ensure that it wouldn't be a runaway.

Williams then broke Muchová to get back on serve. But she dropped a second service game before double faulting on set point to hand Muchová a 6-3 opening set victory.

But Williams didn't roll over in the second.

She broke Muchová's opening serve, then broke her again to take a 5-2 lead and serve for the set. She capitalized by forcing Muchová to hit long to force a winner-take-all third set.

It marked the first time Williams had won a set at the US Open since 2019 and her first set victory at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2023.

By the third set, Williams was out of gas. Muchová cruised to a 6-1 win to secure the match.

The match was just the third of the year for Williams, who hadn't played in a Grand Slam since the 2023 US Open. She made her first appearance of the 2025 season at the DC Open on July 23 after taking time away from tennis in part to tend to her health.

There, she became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match when she defeated 23-year-old Peyton Stearns in the first round. That was her first singles match since March of 2024.

There was no repeat of that magic on Monday against the No. 11 player in the world. But Williams put up a fight after Mochova threatened to run away with the opening set.