Serena Williams and Venus played their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open on Monday night at the Cincinnati Open, falling in a match tiebreak the Williams pair nearly won before Venus’s double-fault ended a dramatic comeback attempt.
The sisters lost 2-6, 6-1 with the match tiebreak going 10-8 to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, a first-time pairing of two 24-year-olds who found themselves in front of a crowd that was clearly pulling for the Williams sisters throughout the evening. It was the Williams sisters’ first doubles appearance in a non-Grand Slam event since the Italian Open in 2016.
Kostyuk and Stearns built a 6-0 lead in the match tiebreak before consecutive double-faults from Kostyuk allowed the pair to pull within 8-7. Serena put away a powerful overhead to make it 9-8 before Venus double-faulted to end the match.
Serena said afterward that she found the experience fun and special, and that the rust they shook off mid-match gave way to something that started to feel right again. She said she did not come to Cincinnati to win the tournament but that being able to do this again was genuinely meaningful to her.
Venus, 46, said the two would eventually find their way back to each other on a doubles court, and described it as great to be out there playing together for the first time in what felt like forever.
The story behind the reunion
Serena had been away from professional tennis since 2022 before returning to the tour this summer at 44. The Williams sisters had planned to play together at Wimbledon earlier this season but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee during a singles match. They entered Cincinnati on a wild card.
The Cincinnati Open holds added meaning for Stearns, who grew up in Mason, Ohio, the suburban Cincinnati city where the tournament is held each year. She acknowledged the crowd was not on her side but said she and Kostyuk used the environment to their advantage. Kostyuk, who is from Ukraine, said the crowd got the show it came for and that a tiebreak can go either way.
The career context
Venus Williams and Serena have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together and 22 doubles titles in total. They have also won three Olympic gold medals as a pair. Serena won one doubles title without her sister, partnering Alexandra Stevenson in Leipzig in 2002. All of Venus Williams’s doubles titles have come with Serena.
Serena has 23 singles Grand Slam titles. Venus has won seven.
Other Monday results
Defending champion Iga Swiatek rallied from a set down to beat Maria Sakkari 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, extending her win streak to eight consecutive matches. Elena Rybakina, the No. 2 seed and defending Toronto champion, defeated Magdalena Frech 6-4, 7-6. Third-ranked Jessica Pegula beat Emma Navarro 7-5, 6-2.
In the men’s draw, world No. 3 and top seed Alexander Zverev outlasted Terence Atmane 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) to win his 46th match of the season, which leads the ATP Tour.
