SERENA and Venus Williams made their long-awaited return to doubles together but fell short in a thrilling match at the Cincinnati Open on Monday night (Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, PH time).
The sisters lost to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, 2-6, 6-1, (10-8), in their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open.
The Associated Press reported that the Williams sisters nearly erased a 6-0 deficit in the match tiebreaker before a double fault by Venus ended their first doubles appearance outside a Grand Slam tournament since the 2016 Italian Open.
“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, 44, had been away from competitive tennis since 2022 before returning to the tour this summer. The sisters had planned to play doubles at Wimbledon but withdrew after Serena injured her knee during her singles loss. They received a wild card to enter Cincinnati.
“Eventually we would find our way to each other,” said Venus, 46, about their decision to reunite on the doubles court. “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 their first tournament as a doubles team. Kostyuk is from Ukraine, while Stearns grew up in Mason, a Cincinnati suburb where the tournament is held.
“I kind of expected it, but it stung a little bit that this is my hometown,” Stearns said of the crowd’s support for the Williams sisters. “I won’t hold it against anyone. The crowd was going for them, but we used it to our advantage and flipped the script.”
After losing the opening set, Serena and Venus dominated the second to force a match tiebreaker.
Kostyuk and Stearns raced to a 6-0 lead, but consecutive double faults by Kostyuk helped the Williams sisters close the gap to 8-7. Serena then hammered an overhead to make it 9-8 before Venus committed the deciding double fault.
“The crowd got the show,” Kostyuk said. “They probably couldn’t ask for anything better. At the end a tiebreak is a lottery. You never know which way it’s going to go.”
Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together and 22 overall. They also have three Olympic gold medals as a team. Serena owns 23 Grand Slam singles titles, while Venus has won seven. / LBG
