Vera Zvonareva is a history maker.
The 41-year-old former world number two returned to professional tennis in December after more than a year away from the sport, winning her first match at a W100 event in Dubai.
Since then, Zvonareva has competed in qualifying rounds for WTA Tour singles events and main draws of doubles events.
This week, Zvonareva qualified for the Qatar Open main draw after defeating Shuai Zhang and Magdalena Frech.
Do you think women should play best-of-five set matches?
On Sunday, the 41-year-old made history by defeating Peyton Stearns in the Qatar Open first round.
Vera Zvonareva makes history
Zvonareva, ranked 584 in the world, used all her experience to defeat Stearns 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in Doha on Sunday.
By doing so, the Russian has joined an exclusive group alongside Serena and Venus Williams; who also defeated Peyton Stearns in her comeback match at the 2025 Washington Open.
As per OptaAce, Vera Zvonareva is now just the fourth player aged 40 or older to win a Tier I/WTA-1000 main draw match after Kimiko Date, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
Zvonareva has achieved the feat while aged 41 years and 154 days. Her last WTA Tour-level main draw victory came at the Nanchang/Jiangxi Open in October 2023, when she defeated Arianne Hartono.
In the next round of the Qatar Open, Zvonareva will play a young star who is 22 years younger than her.
Zvonareva faces a young WTA 1000 champion in the next round
Zvonareva is set to face Victoria Mboko in the Qatar Open second round after the young Canadian defeated Marie Bouzkova on Sunday.
Mboko first made a name for herself at the 2025 Canadian Open. Mboko, who was unseeded at the event, defeated four Grand Slam champions on her way to the title.
Who has impressed you the most?
Since then, the 19-year-old has won her second title in Hong Kong and produced a marvellous run to the Australian Open fourth round.
The winner of Zvonareva and Mboko will play either Mirra Andreeva, Sonay Kartal or Magda Linette in the third round.
If Zvonareva were to reach the last eight in Doha, she could play Elena Rybakina: the 2026 Australian Open champion.
