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American Rider Matteo Jorgenson Wins Paris-Nice Stage Race for 1st Time

Matteo Jorgenson of the US wearing the overall leaders jersey celebrates on the podium after winning the general clasification of the Paris-Nice cycling race in Nice, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Matteo Jorgenson of the US wearing the overall leaders jersey celebrates on the podium after winning the general clasification of the Paris-Nice cycling race in Nice, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
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American Rider Matteo Jorgenson Wins Paris-Nice Stage Race for 1st Time

Matteo Jorgenson of the US wearing the overall leaders jersey celebrates on the podium after winning the general clasification of the Paris-Nice cycling race in Nice, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Matteo Jorgenson of the US wearing the overall leaders jersey celebrates on the podium after winning the general clasification of the Paris-Nice cycling race in Nice, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

American rider Matteo Jorgenson won the Paris-Nice stage race for the first time on Sunday, with Belgian Remco Evenepoel clinching the final stage to finish second overall.
The 24-year-old Jorgenson, who races for the Visma–Lease team and lives in Nice, secured the biggest victory of his career after winning the Tour of Oman last year.
“To be honest, I never expected to win Paris-Nice. Until this year, I never thought it was possible. But here we are,” Jorgenson said. “I could barely sleep last night. I was so nervous. I felt pressure for the first time in my life. To ride with such a champion as Remco was a very special moment.”
Evenepoel beat him in a sprint to the line to win Sunday's eighth stage, a hilly 109-kilometer (68-mile) trek with two big climbs starting and finishing in Nice on France's Côte d’Azur.
Evenepoel and Jorgenson were both giving the same winning time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 3 seconds, with Russian cyclist Aleksandr Vlasov crossing the line 50 seconds behind in third spot.
“I’m not going to get ahead of myself. It’s already a great achievement in my life,” the jubilant Jorgenson said, according to The Associated Press. “I will now try to enjoy it and keep my feet on the ground.”
In the overall standings, Jorgenson finished 30 seconds ahead of Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) and 1 minute, 47 seconds clear of countryman and childhood friend Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), the overnight leader.
Evenepoel praised Jorgenson for staying with him when he surged ahead in the climbs.
“If you’ve seen my attacks today, only one guy could follow, it was Matteo,” he said. “Matteo is the deserved winner of this race.”

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45-Year-Old Venus Williams Becomes the Oldest Woman Since Martina Navratilova to Win a Singles Match 

Venus Williams participates in a press conference after winning a women's single match against Peyton Stearns (not pictured) on day 2 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open 2025 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Venus Williams participates in a press conference after winning a women's single match against Peyton Stearns (not pictured) on day 2 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open 2025 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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45-Year-Old Venus Williams Becomes the Oldest Woman Since Martina Navratilova to Win a Singles Match 

Venus Williams participates in a press conference after winning a women's single match against Peyton Stearns (not pictured) on day 2 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open 2025 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Venus Williams participates in a press conference after winning a women's single match against Peyton Stearns (not pictured) on day 2 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open 2025 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

Venus Williams became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open on Tuesday night.

This was the first singles victory for Williams in nearly two years. The only older woman to win a match was Martina Navratilova at 47 in 2004.

The former No. 1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn't won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as "inactive."

"It is not easy," Williams said, "to (come back) after all that time and play the perfect match."

But backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hard-court tournament in the nation's capital, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in women’s doubles — all alongside younger sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles.

"I wanted to play a good match," she told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: "and win the match."

In Tuesday's second game, for example, Williams smacked a return winner to get things started, then delivered a couple of other big responses to break Stearns, a 23-year-old who won singles and team NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th.

In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach a drop shot and replied with a winner. Soon, she led 4-2, then was closing that set.

She was accompanied by choruses of cheers. The first arrived when Williams walked out into the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7,000-seat arena that's more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode from the sideline to the center of the court for the formality of the coin toss. The noise really reached a crescendo when Williams began hitting aces — at 110 mph and faster — the way she used to.

There also were moments where Williams — who said her fiancé was in the stands — looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken at love this way: forehand wide, forehand into the net, forehand long, backhand long.

At the end, it took Williams a bit of extra effort to close things out. She kept holding match points and kept failing to convert them. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the net. That was it: Williams smiled wide as can be, raised a fist and jogged to the net to shake hands, then performed her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave.

She advanced to a second-round matchup against No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, a 27-year-old from Poland.

In other action Tuesday, Emma Raducanu handed No. 7 seed Marta Kostyuk a sixth consecutive loss by eliminating her 7-6 (4), 6-4. That set up a matchup between Raducanu and four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who was a 6-2, 7-5 winner against Yulia Putintseva.

Two top men's seeds exited: Cam Norrie beat No. 2 Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 3 Holger Rune withdrew from the tournament because of a back injury. No. 4 seed Ben Shelton defeated Mackie McDonald 6-3, 6-4.