Venus Williams rolled back the years on Tuesday, July 22, as the former No. 1 and seven-time singles Major champion produced a vintage display to come out on top against Peyton Stearns at the 2025 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington. It marked the 45-year-old legend's first singles win since the 2023 Cincinnati Open, and unsurprisingly, caught the attention of the tennis world, including Naomi Osaka and Andy Roddick.Williams, who received a wildcard entry into the tournament, hit nine aces against Stearns and also capitalized on six out of 14 break points she engineered throughout her 6-3, 6-4 win. In the aftermath of the stunning first-round result at the combined ATP and WTA 500 hardcourt event, fellow former No. 1 Naomi Osaka took to X (formerly Twitter) and delivered an emphatic reaction, writing:"My queen 👑🥹❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️"The official X handle of Andy Roddick's Served podcast also chimed in, referring to Venus Williams as tennis "royalty"."Royalty in the nations capital 👑," the post's caption read.Several fans also weighed in with their reactions to Williams' win."I’ve seen enough. Venus Williams 2025 US open champion!," one fan wrote."Stearns is ranked #35 in the world by the way. Not even a bad player at all," commented another."One of the all time greats. Unbelievable performance this week in doubles and singles," added one, bringing up Williams' first-round win in women's doubles alongside Hailey Baptiste."I need Venus Williams to never announce her retirement and just keep on randomly popping up like this to remind us all she's still got it. Absolutely unreal," yet another fan chimed in.Venus Williams thanked fiancé Andrea Preti for motivating her to continue playing after Citi DC Open 1R victoryVenus Williams' fiance Andrea Preti at the 2025 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington (Source: Getty)Noted actor, writer, and director Andrea Preti was at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington to watch fiancée Venus Williams in action against Peyton Stearns. Following her emphatic win over Stearns, the former No. 1 voiced a thankful message for Preti, who, according to Williams, gave her the encouragement to prolong her tennis-playing career. The 45-year-old said:"My fiancée is here. He really encouraged me to keep playing. There were so many times where I just wanted to coast and kind of chill. You know how hard it is to play tennis? You guys don't know how much work goes into this, like, it's 9 to 5 except you're running the whole time, lifting weights and just like, dying, and repeating it the next day. So, he encouraged me to get through this and it's wonderful to be here. He's never seen me play."Up next for Williams at the 2025 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington are two matches; the first among them is a women's doubles quarterfinal clash partnering Hailey Baptiste against Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai. The second is a women's singles encounter against No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech.