Serena, Venus Williams Lose Close Doubles Match in Cincinnati

Serena and Venus Williams played their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open on Monday night, losing a thriller 2-6, 6-1 (10-8) to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns at the Cincinnati Open.

The sisters nearly rallied back from a 6-0 deficit in the match tiebreaker before a double-fault by Venus ended their bid. It marked their first doubles appearance in a non-Grand Slam event 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 off the tour since 2022 before returning this summer. The sisters had planned to play together at Wimbledon but withdrew after Serena injured her knee during her singles loss there. They entered Cincinnati on a wild card.

"Eventually we would find our way to each other," said Venus, 46, of 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. Stearns grew up in Mason, Ohio, the 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 pro-Williams crowd. "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 rolled in the second to force a match tiebreak. Kostyuk and Stearns raced to a 6-0 lead, but consecutive double-faults by Kostyuk let the Williamses climb to 8-7. Serena leveled it at 9-8 with a powerful overhead putaway before Venus double-faulted to end the match.

"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."

Venus and Serena have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together and 22 total doubles titles between them, along with three Olympic gold medals. Serena has 23 career singles Grand Slam titles; Venus has seven.