Venus Williams gets wild-card entry for Cincinnati Open after win in Washington

Venus Williams's return to professional tennis will not just be a one-tournament visit: She was awarded a wild-card entry on Wednesday for next month's Cincinnati Open.

The 45-year-old Williams is participating in her first event in more than a year this week at the Citi Open in Washington and won first-round matches in both singles and doubles.

Her 6-3, 6-4 victory over 23-year-old Peyton Stearns on Tuesday night made Williams the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match. Martina Navratilova was 47 when she picked up her last singles victory in 2004.

Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles — five at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open — plus 14 more in doubles with her sister Serena and two in mixed doubles.

She'll play Magdalena Frech of Poland on Thursday in Washington.

The Cincinnati Open begins on Aug. 5 and is a hard-court tune-up for the U.S. Open.

Caty McNally, the only player to take a set off champion Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, also was given a wild card for Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Mboko commits 9 double faults in loss

Victoria Mboko of Toronto fell 6-3, 7-5 to Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in second-round action at the Citi Open tennis tournament on Wednesday.

Mboko fired three aces but committed nine double faults in the one-hour 25-minute match.

The 18-year-old from Toronto also broke on two of her three chances.

Mboko was ahead 5-4 in the second set, looking to extend the match to a third set, but surrendered the final three games.

Rybakina, the third seed in the tournament, also had three aces but just one double fault.

She broke on four of her nine opportunities in the win.