Venus Williams Edged Out in Bad Homburg Thriller as Osaka Cruises

46-year-old falls 7-6 in third set thriller

Venus Williams led 5-3 in the decider and had match points but lost 8-6 in the tie-break to Begu. Osaka advanced comfortably ahead of Wimbledon.

“Two points from victory” says Venus falls in tie-break at Bad Homburg...

Venus Williams was edged out in a tense first-round match at the Bad Homburg WTA grass-court tournament on Monday, while Japan’s Naomi Osaka advanced in straight sets.

At 46, Williams is set to team up with sister Serena for doubles at Wimbledon next week, and she also received a wildcard into the Bad Homburg singles draw.

She was slow out of the blocks against Romanian qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu, dropping the first set 6-2 before fighting back to level it at 6-4 in the second.

Williams went up 5-3 in the third and had two match points, but Begu refused to fold and pushed it to a tie-break, taking it 8-6.

Sixth seed Osaka, 28, cruised past Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-4, 6-1 with minimal fuss.

The opening set stayed tight until rain stopped play at 5-4. After the break, the four-time Grand Slam winner dropped just one more game the rest of the way.

Osaka is still chasing her first title on grass. Her best run on the surface came at Nottingham in 2018, where she reached the semifinals.