WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Venus Williams’ first serious serve in 18 months resulted in a foot fault.

There were actually three in the first set alone, but in the end Williams and Hailey Baptiste came back to defeat the pairing of Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3, 6-1 on Monday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

It was a sharp turnaround. Down 3-1 and facing a break point, Williams and Baptiste rallied to win 11 of the last 12 games before an engaged, full-house crowd on the John Harris Court. Baptiste, born and raised here, was inspired by Williams and played doubles with her at the age of four during a World Team Tennis event.

“Tennis is about excellence,” Williams said afterward. “I’m very pro-women and women in sports, so that’s so important too, but today we got to see three African Americans on the court. So it’s amazing that now African American girls know they can play tennis, that that’s an option, an opportunity for them to be out there too on the court in whatever capacity.

“The crowd was, like, wow. I think in that situation you can either crumble with the crowd or it can let you rise, and I think we rose together with the crowd and with each other.”

The 45-year-old Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, has made a summer splash in the nation’s capital. 

When she takes the court as a wild card for her first singles match, she’ll be the oldest player to compete at a WTA Tour-level main-draw match since Kimiko Date (then 46) seven years ago in Tokyo. A victory on Tuesday or Wednesday over Peyton Stearns, currently ranked No. 35, would make Williams the oldest to do it since Martina Navratilova (then 47) at Wimbledon 2004.

Kevin Durant, a two-time NBA champion and, like Williams, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, was in attendance.

“I heard the crowd started screaming, KD, KD,” Baptiste said. “I was, like, 'I’m not even going to look over right now. Let me just focus on this next return.' It’s sick that he came out to support us and it’s really cool.”

Said Williams, “That’s actually I think when you started playing better. I was, like, 'I want to show KD what I can do. Hit the ball to me.’ They hit every ball to you. I was, like, 'OK, whatever. However we win is fine.''

Navarro on fame

Sprinting from one interview to another, Emma Navarro was stopped by a few star-struck fans and happily signed autographs before dashed off to the next.

Since crashing the Top 10 and reaching the semifinals at last year’s US Open, life has changed for the 24-year-old American.

“Yeah,” Navarro acknowledged in press, “definitely get recognized more often. It’s definitely taken some getting used to. You know, when I go places, I just feel like one of everybody else, so it’s weird for me to imagine somebody looking at me as something different than one of everybody else.

“I have to keep my wits about me. I have gotten used to it a little bit, but at the same time, I will never fully get used to it and I will never feel famous or well known or anything like that.”

Mboko on the fast track

Quiz time: Which rising WTA star on Monday won her 46th professional match of the year?

The answer: Wild card Victoria Mboko, the 18-year-old Canadian, was a 6-2, 6-4 first-round winner over Anastasia Potapova.

Coming off her Wimbledon first-round upset over No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech as a lucky loser, Mboko has been creating buzz and making headlines all season long. Earlier this season, she won five professional events, two W75s and three W35s, which helped launch her up the PIF WTA rankings. Starting the year at No. 333, she’s zoomed to the current No. 88. 

This is her first time in Washington, and she’s making the most of it, already visiting the White House and some national museums. Mboko is gradually starting to accept her success.

“At the time when it was kind of happening, it didn’t really feel that real,” she said. “It kind of felt weird to me. I didn’t expect any of this of myself. To have gone through that and see how far I’ve come from the beginning of the year, I feel like it’s been a big jump from me.”

Some players don’t like to know immediately who they’re playing next, but Mboko was well aware of her second-round opponent -- 2022 Wimbledon champion and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina.

“Hey, she’s where she is because ... she’s good,” Mboko said. “I know I’m going to come out and play very great tennis, be on my A-game. But I think this is a problem for two days from now, so I’m not going to start thinking about it now.”

A win for positivity

It’s been an up-and-down year for Leylah Fernandez.

She came into this event with a 16-17 record, and is still looking for three wins in a single tournament. But in recent months she’s been focusing on positivity.

Monday’s definitive 6-3, 6-3 victory over ascending Aussie teenager Maya Joint should help keep that feeling going.

“The positivity and mental fortitude -- in close games, especially in the second set,” said Fernandez, identifying the key to the match. “Right now I’ve found a good balance off court and it’s helping on court.”

That positivity will be challenged in the second round when she plays No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula.

Late-night action

Wild card Maria Sakkari was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Katie Boulter and will face No. 2 seed Emma Navarro in the second round.

No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech defeated qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva and next plays the winner of Tuesday night’s first-round match between wild card Venus Williams and Peyton Stearns.

Magda Linette, the No. 8 seed, was a 7-5, 6-4 winner over Danielle Collins. She’s got the winner of Tuesday’s meeting between Anna Kalinskaya and dangerous qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova.