Venus Williams fell in straight sets to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the second round of the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.

The 45-year-old became the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match since Martina Navratilova in 2004 after an opening-round victory over Peyton Stearns on Tuesday.

Williams took an early 2-1 lead against Frech, but the 27-year-old responded with a dominant run of seven straight games en route to a 6-2 6-2 win.

“Oh, I had so much fun. Definitely not the result I wanted, but still a learning experience. The part about sport [and] life is that you never stop learning,” Williams said.

“I got to play a lot of matches here and that definitely was a plus. The fans in DC are just epic. I couldn’t have been happier with my first week back.”

In Washington, William played four matches, two singles and two doubles, over the course of four days.

“I feel like I ran out of gas today, unfortunately,” Williams said after the loss to Frech. “I tried to find the energy, and I didn’t find it.”

Poland’s Frech has previously reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. “I can’t even imagine how she pushes herself,” she said of Williams. “It’s really amazing.”

Williams has also accepted a wild card to play in the Cincinnati Open next month.

“There are so many learnings from here. I know exactly what I need to work on, where I can improve,” she said.

“The good news is I’m always in control of the point. The important part is to put the ball in.”

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