Venus Williams teams up with Katie Boulter after making unwanted history with 10th straight loss to 'inspired' Kaitlin Quevedo at Miami Open

Williams, 45, is one of the greats of the game, and has won the most Grand Slam titles (seven) among current active players.

But she is also now the first former world No. 1 in history to lose 10 successive singles matches.

Williams hasn’t won a match since beating Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open last July. This was her first competitive outing on clay since the 2021 French Open.

Despite her advancing years, Williams hasn’t given any indication yet that she is planning on following sister Serena into retirement.

Playing for the first time since losing to Francesca Jones at the Miami Open, Williams' first-round opponent in Madrid, 20-year-old Quevedo, wasn’t alive when the USA great won five of her seven major titles.

Born in 2006, Quevedo is the youngest player that Williams has ever faced in her career.

With the 6-2 6-4 victory, she is the first player, as per the WTA, to beat a current or former world No. 1 in her first Tier I/WTA 1000 match since the format was introduced in 1990.

Williams was 3-0 up in the second set, but couldn't force a decider.

"I felt like in the last game I started to move better on the clay," she said in her post-match press conference. 

"But then it was the last game! All these things take adjustments. I started my practice on clay a couple weeks after Miami. I haven't really played on clay in years. But I enjoy the clay, it's fun. I played against a very inspired opponent today."

Williams is planning on sticking around in Madrid to play doubles with Brit Katie Boulter.

"She asked me to play, or her coach did," Williams said. 

"I would like to think she asked me to play, and I was happy to say yes. She's got great energy. She's got a great attitude. She's a fighter. I'm looking forward to playing with her, because I think our energies will really match."

On her future plans, she added: ”I won't be able to play in Rome, because I have other commitments, unfortunately, so I'm really super sad about that. My husband is Italian, so we're sad not to be able to be there, but we would love to continue with the clay court swing."

It is not known whether Williams will play the French Open, where she would need a wildcard to compete.

Her best run at the clay Grand Slam was making the final in 2002.

The French Open starts on May 24, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

TNT Sports is the exclusive French Open broadcaster in the UK and Ireland. Coverage of every court will be available to watch live on HBO Max.