Indian Wells (California), 06 March (H.S.): Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams' campaign at the BNP Paribas Open 2026, also known as the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament, ended in the very first round. France's Diane Parry defeated Venus 3-6, 6-7 (4), 1-6 in Thursday's match, knocking her out of the tournament.The 45-year-old Venus Williams had received a wild card into both the singles and doubles draws of this prestigious tournament. This marked her return to Indian Wells 30 years after her debut, when she first participated at age 15 in 1996.

After trailing in the first set, Venus staged a brilliant comeback in the second set to level the match, but the 23-year-old Diane Parry (world ranking 111) established complete control in the third set and secured an easy victory.This was Venus Williams' 10th appearance in the tournament and her first comeback since 2024. In 2024 too, she lost in the first round after entering via wild card.

Last year, she was offered a wild card but did not participate in the tournament.

Before the match, Venus had said, I am very excited to return to Indian Wells and feel like coming home to play in California.Now, Diane Parry will face 15th seed Madison Keys of the United States in the second round on Saturday.

Venus Williams has now lost eight consecutive WTA singles matches. Her only win during last year's comeback was in Washington.In January, she participated in the Australian Open 2026, where she lost in the first round in both singles and doubles. At that time, she became the oldest woman to compete in the Australian Open main singles draw, breaking the record of Japan's Kimiko Date, who achieved it at age 44 in 2015.Venus had recently entered the ATX Open in Austin, Texas, via wild card, where she lost in the first round to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar