Venus Williams,
for the first time in her professional career, crashed out of the US Open in
the first round after losing to Cech Republic’s Karolina Muchova in straight
sets on Tuesday.

Making her
22nd appearance at the Flushing Meadows in a career that has spanned
four decades, 40-year-old Williams lost 6-3, 7-5. It was the second consecutive
Grand Slam where Williams bowed out from the first round, having lost her opening
match in the Australian Open in January.

Also Read: Serena Williams starts US Open with straight-set win, eyes 24th Grand Slam

A seven-time
Grand Slam champion, Williams has not been able to progress beyond the third round
of a Grand Slam since 2017. However, she does not intend to call quits on her
career yet, saying she is already looking forward to the French Open later this
year.

“I love this
game. I am good at what I do. It’s easy to stay motivated and excited about
doing something so amazing,” AFP quoted Williams as saying.

“Not many
people get to do this. Really fortunate and blessed to be someone who has
gotten a chance to do it. But I look forward to a few days off. It’s been a lot
of work. Looking forward to just having a little bit of a rest before the clay
courts.”

Muchova,
who was just one year old when Williams was playing her first US Open final in
1997, where she was bested by Martina Hingis, said she was always in control against
her American opponent on Tuesday.

Also Read: Murray battles back to win five-set thriller at US Open

Having lost
the first set, Williams fought back in the second set and had established a 5-3
lead, with a third set looking very much on the cards. Although a flurry of
unforced errors saw her blow the lead as Muchova won four straight games to
seal the win.

“I think we
both served pretty well. I think I made just more unforced errors than she did.
Just having some better shot selection. That comes with playing your way into
the tournament, those sorts of things. Just ran out of time today,” Williams
said.

20th
seeded Muchova will face unseeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya in the next round.