Serena and Venus Williams lose Cincinnati doubles return 2-6, 6-1, 8-10 to Kostyuk and Stearns

First-round match in Cincinnati

Serena and Venus Williams played their first joint doubles match in nearly four years on Monday at the Cincinnati Open. The American sisters received a wildcard into the WTA 1000 hard-court event and faced Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Peyton Stearns of the United States. It marked their first doubles appearance together outside of a Grand Slam tournament since the Italian Open in 2016. Walking out before a packed crowd on the second-largest show-court in Cincinnati, the pair conceded an early service break to fall behind 2-1 and subsequently lost the opening set 6-2 as both sisters worked to regain match sharpness after an extended absence from competitive doubles play.

Deciding tiebreak concludes comeback

The Williams sisters shifted momentum in the second set, controlling exchanges from the baseline and net to take the set 6-1 and force a ten-point match tiebreak. Kostyuk and Stearns quickly built a 6-0 lead in the tiebreaker before the sisters mounted a sustained comeback. Aided by two consecutive double faults from Kostyuk, Serena and Venus narrowed the deficit to 7-8 and saved a match point. The rally fell short when Venus Williams committed a double fault at 8-9 down, ending the tiebreak 8-10 and concluding the match after three sets.

I thought it was fun. 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.

Summer comeback progression

The Cincinnati match was the fourth competitive outing for 44-year-old Serena Williams since launching the second chapter of her career earlier in the summer, four years after stating she was evolving away from the sport following the 2022 US Open. She returned to competition on grass in June, winning a doubles match at Queen's in London alongside Canadian player Victoria Mboko. That grass-court run concluded with a three-set singles defeat to Australian player Maya Joint at Wimbledon, where Serena suffered a knee injury that prevented the sisters from competing in the London doubles draw. Venus Williams, 46, entered Cincinnati having already contested singles and doubles events in Washington and Toronto as a wildcard. She has not won a match in more than a year since defeating Stearns at the DC Open in July 2025, and she lost her Cincinnati singles opener to Emiliana Arango of Colombia.

Eventually we would find our way to each other. It's our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it.

Partnership record and upcoming tournaments

Across their partnership, Serena and Venus Williams have accumulated 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, 22 team titles, and three Olympic gold medals. In singles competition, Serena has earned 23 Grand Slam titles, while Venus has won seven. Their appearance in Ohio was their first doubles contest together since the 2022 US Open, when Serena previously paused her playing career. Both players plan to compete in doubles at the upcoming US Open in New York, scheduled from 30 August to 13 September 2026, where the main singles draw begins on 31 August. Tournament organizers have also held three wildcard spots open for the mixed doubles event, for which the field was announced on Monday.