Citi DC Open Day 2: Women's singles predictions ft. Venus Williams vs Peyton Stearns

Day 2 at the 2025 Citi DC Open (July 22) will feature seven first-round matches in the women's singles. The day's action will be headlined by former World No.1, Venus Williams, who will be making a return to the Tour after almost 16 months.

Seeded players who will be in action are sixth-seeded Sofia Kenin and seventh-seeded Marta Kostyuk. Home favorites include McCartney Kessler, Caroline Dolehide, Hailey Baptiste, and Taylor Townsend. The day's action will further have more significance as former Major champions such as Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu will also take the court.

Here is a look at some of the matches scheduled for Day 2 at the 2025 Citi DC Open.

#1 Venus Williams vs Peyton Stearns

Venus Williams will be making a return to the WTA after over a year, and will face Peyton Stearns in the first round of the 2025 Citi DC Open. Williams last played at Indian Wells and Miami last year, losing against the likes of Nao Hibino and Diana Shnaider in the respective first rounds.

Stearns has won 17 of the 32 matches she has played this year, with her best result coming in Rome, where she reached the semifinal. Her last event was Wimbledon, where she lost to Laura Siegemund in the first round.

This is the first meeting between the two players, with Stearns being the favorite to win as Williams is bound to be rusty after such a long time and is clearly past her prime.

Predicted winner- Peyton Stearns

#2 Naomi Osaka vs Yulia Putintseva

Former No.1 player Naomi Osaka will begin her 2025 Citi DC Open campaign against Yulia Putintseva in the first round. Osaka has won 20 of her 30 matches in 2025, winning a Challenger title in Saint-Malo. On Tour, her best result was a runner-up finish in Auckland. Her last event was Wimbledon, where she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.

Putintseva has a losing record in 2025, as she has won 15 of the 32 matches she has played in the year, with her best result being reaching the semifinal of the Adelaide International. Her last event was Wimbledon, where she lost 0-6, 0-6 against Amanda Anisimova in the first round.

The head-to-head is tied at 3-3, with Osaka winning the last match 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Beijing last year, making her the favorite to win the upcoming match as well.

Predicted winner- Naomi Osaka

#3 Anna Kalinskaya vs Kamilla Rakhimova

One of the first-round clashes at the 2025 Citi DC Open will feature an all-Russian encounter between Anna Kalinskaya and Kamilla Rakhimova. Kalinskaya has won 10 of the 23 matches in 2025, with her best result being a semifinal finish in Singapore. Her last event was Wimbledon, where she lost to Clara Tauson in the second round.

Rakhimova has won 19 of the 40 matches in 2025, including Challenger tennis, with her best result being reaching the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International. At the Citi DC Open, she won 6-1, 6-4 over Varvara Lepchenko and won 7-6 (7), 6-2 against Clervie Ngounoue in the qualifiers to get into the main draw.

Kalinskaya has won her only match against Rakhimova 6-2, 6-2 in the qualifiers in Dubai last year, making her the favorite to win the upcoming match.

Predicted winner- Anna Kalinskaya

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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Edited by Anisha Chatterjee