Serena and Venus Williams return to doubles and lose close match in Cincinnati

MASON: Serena and Venus Williams played their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open and lost a thriller, 2-6, 6-1 (10-8) to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns on Monday night at the Cincinnati Open.
The sisters nearly recovered from a 6-0 deficit in the match tiebreaker before a double-fault by Venus Williams ended their first doubles appearance in a non-Grand Slam event since the Italian Open in 2016.
“I thought it was fun,” Serena said. “I thought it was special.

We kicked off a little rust in the middle of the match and just, you know (were) starting to feel it. I didn’t come out here to win this tournament. Winning is obviously great.

But in this position just, you know, having fun. It was really cool to be able to do this again.”
Serena had been off the tour since 2022 before returning this summer at age 44. The sisters planned to play together at Wimbledon but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee while losing her singles match.

They entered Cincinnati as a wild card.
“Eventually we would find our way to each other,” the 46-year-old Venus said about the decision to play doubles again. “It's our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it.”
Kostyuk and Stearns, both 24, are playing in their first tournament together.

Kostyuk is from Ukraine. Stearns grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, where the tournament is played every year.
“I kind of expected it but it stung a little bit that this is my hometown,” Stearns said about the pro-Williams sisters crowd. “I won't hold it against anyone.