At 45, Williams pulled off a lovely win at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, defeating 23-year-old Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4.

On July 22, Venus Williams confirmed her engagement to model and actor Andrea Preti.

The 45-year-old Williams hadn’t played in a tournament in 16 months until entering the event in Washington.

Williams’s recent match was the first one she has played this year. The only woman older than she is now to win a tour-level singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose last triumph came in 2004 at age 47. Williams was once the No. 1 ranked women’s payer in the world and has made $42.6 million playing professional tennis.

The seven-times Grand Slam singles champion became the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004 when she beat world number 35 Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open on Tuesday, after a 16-mo...