US Venus Williams returns the ball to Slovenia's Kaja Juvan (out of frame) during their Mexico WTA Open women's singles tennis match in Acapulco, Guerrero State, Mexico on Feb 25, 2020. (PEDRO PARDO / AFP)

Venus Williams remained winless for 2020 with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Slovakian qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Monday in the first round of the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey, Mexico.

Williams, 39, lost to Coco Gauff in the first round of the Australian Open last month, and she fell to Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan last week in Acapulco, Mexico.

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Williams, 39, lost to Coco Gauff in the first round of the Australian Open last month, and she fell to Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan last week in Acapulco, Mexico

Schmiedlova, 25, has been slowed in recent months by injuries. She hadn’t won a main-draw WTA tournament match since June, though she did post two Fed Cup victories earlier this month.

Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Sloane Stephens finally earned her first victory of 2020 in her fifth attempt. In an all-United States matchup, Stephens defeated 497th-ranked Emma Navarro 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

Other first-round winners in Monterrey included sixth-seeded Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, eight-seeded Yafan Wang of China, ninth-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, Astra Sharma of Australia and Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Third-seeded Caroline Garcia of France survived a tough first-round challenge in Lyon, France, beating Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5).

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Garcia had two chances to close the match on Minnen’s serve at 6-5 in the third set, but Minnen saved both break points. Garcia eventually won the final-set tiebreaker. Minnen faced a whopping 18 break points in the match but saved 16 of them.

Two Belgians - fifth-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck and Ysaline Bonaventure - along with Romanians Irina Bara and Jaqueline Cristian, joined fourth-seeded Alize Cornet of France and Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany in reaching the second round.