Former French Open runner-up, Venus Williams, suffered her second successive first round loss in a Grand Slam as she went down 6-4, 6-4 to Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Sunday.

With a chill wind blowing and drizzle falling on the Simonne-Mathieu arena, the 40-year-old Williams began strongly but got bogged down in a baseline battle on a slow surface.

Williams led 3-1 and 4-2 in the first set against the 26-year-old who is playing under a special ranking after undergoing knee surgery. But she lost a series of lengthy games as a first set lasting 68 minutes slipped away.

Unable to hold her once mighty serve, Williams fell 4-1 down in the second set.

This came as Schmiedlova moved within sight of snapping a streak of 12 successive Grand Slam first round defeats since 2016.

Williams, who played in black leggings and a bodywarmer, finally held serve after being broken six times in a row to close to 3-4 in the second as Schmiedlova began to look a little nervy.

But the Slovak edged 5-3 in front.

Seven-times Grand Slam champion Williams fought ferociously until the end, saving two match points on serve but Schmiedlova showed great composure to serve it out, sealing victory with a forehand down the line.