Venus Williams, 45, wins 1st singles match in 2 years at DC Open

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Venus Williams wanted to send a message, to herself and to others, about coming back from a long layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about never giving up. Yes, there was something special about just being back on a tennis court Tuesday night.

There also was this: She really, really wanted to win.

And Williams did just that, becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes while beating Peyton Stearns, 22 years her junior, by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open.

"Each week that I was training, I was, like, 'Oh, my God, I don't know if I'm good enough yet.' And then…