Taylor Fritz starts hard-court circuit with a win at the DC Open. Venus Williams loses in doubles

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top-seeded Taylor Fritz got his North American hard-court season off to a strong start by hitting 11 aces and saving the only break point he faced in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Aleksandar Vukic at the DC Open on Wednesday.

Fritz is coming off a semifinal run on the grass of Wimbledon. He will be trying to replicate last year’s strong showing in this portion of the season, when he reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open.

After getting a first-round bye, Fritz now will play in the third round against Matteo Arnaldi, who eliminated No. 16 Lorenzo Sonego 7-5, 7-5.

Seeded men advancing included No. 7 Alex de Minaur, No. 8 Daniil Medvedev and No. 11 Jiri Lehecka, but No. 10 Alexei Popyrin was defeated by qualifier Wu Yibing 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

Venus Williams’ run in doubles with partner Hailey Baptiste ended in the second round with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 loss in a champion’s tiebreaker to second-seeded Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai. The 45-year-old Williams is competing at her first tournament in more than a year — and first in doubles since 2022 — and she and Baptiste won their first-round match on Monday.

Williams will play her second-round singles match Thursday against Magdalena Frech. On Tuesday, Williams became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, beating Payton Stearns — who is 23 — in straight sets.

In women’s singles play Wednesday, unseeded Anna Kalinskaya eliminated No. 8 seed Magda Linette 6-4, 6-0.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis