Toronto: Former World No 1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams will play her first singles match in nearly 12 months at the National Bank Open after being awarded a wild card into the main draw. Williams' most recent singles outing was at the Chicago Women's Open last August, where she lost in the first round to Hsieh Su-Wei. Her last singles victory came against Mihaela Buzarnescu at Wimbledon 2021.
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The 42-year old returned to action in mixed doubles at Wimbledon this month, partnering Jamie Murray to reach the second round. Toronto previously has been a milestone tournament for Williams. In 1995, at 15 years old, she made her Tier I debut (the equivalent of today's WTA 1000 category) at the event after receiving a wild card, losing to Sabine Appelmans in the first round.
Despite that, the city has not been Williams' happiest hunting ground. She owns a 2-7 record in Toronto, with her best performance to date being a third-round showing in 2017. However, she was the 2014 runner-up to Agnieszka Radwanska at the National Bank Open's sister iteration in Montr al.
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Venus will join sister Serena, who entered using her protected ranking, in the field, along with 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu, who has also received a wild card, and a full Top 10 slate led by World No 1 Iga Swiatek.
