MASON, Ohio — Serena and Venus Williams stepped onto the court together for the first time in doubles since the 2022 S. Open, falling in a closely contested match to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, 2-6, 6-1 (10-8), on Monday night at the Cincinnati Open.
The sisters nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback, erasing a 6-0 deficit in the match tiebreaker. But a double-fault by Venus Williams ended the match, marking their first doubles appearance in a non-Grand Slam event since the Italian Open in 2016.
Serena, who returned to the tour this summer at age 44 after being away since 2022, reflected on the experience. "I thought it was fun," she 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."
The sisters had planned to play together at Wimbledon but withdrew after Serena injured her knee during her singles match there. They entered Cincinnati as a wild card.
Venus, 46, spoke about their decision to play doubles again. "Eventually we would find our way to each other," she said. "It's our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it."
Their opponents, Kostyuk and Stearns, are both 24 and playing in their first tournament together. Kostyuk hails from Ukraine, while Stearns grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, where the tournament is held each year.
Despite the home crowd favoring the Williams sisters, Stearns said they used it to their advantage. "I kind of expected it but it stung a little bit that this is my hometown," she said. "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 dropping the first set, the Williams sisters dominated the second to force a match tiebreak. Kostyuk and Stearns surged ahead 6-0, but consecutive double-faults by Kostyuk allowed the Williamses to close to 8-7. Serena then powerfully put away an overhead to make it 9-8, before Venus double-faulted to end the match.
Kostyuk acknowledged the drama of the finish. "The crowd got the show," she 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."
Venus and Serena have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together and 22 overall. Serena also won one with Alexandra Stevenson in 2002 at Leipzig. All of Venus' doubles titles have come with her sister. The pair has also won three Olympic gold medals in doubles. Serena holds 23 Grand Slam singles titles, while Venus has seven.
In other singles action Monday, defending Cincinnati champion Iga Swiatek rallied from a set down to defeat Maria Sakkari, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, extending her winning streak to eight matches. No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina beat Magdalena Frech, 6-4, 7-6. Third-ranked Jessica Pegula defeated fellow American Emma Navarro, 7-5, 6-2. On the men's side, World No. 3 and top seed Alexander Zverev won his ATP-tour leading 46th match of the season, outlasting Terence Atmane, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6).