Williams sisters, teaming for first time since '22, lose in Cincy opener

Nearly four years after the last time they teamed up to play doubles, Serena Williams and Venus Williams lost a first-round match to Peyton Stearns and Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (8) on Monday at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.

"I thought it was fun," Serena Williams said. "I thought it was special. We kicked off a little rust in the middle of the match and just, you know, (we 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."

It was the third doubles match of the year for Serena Williams, 44, who returned to the tour this year for the first time since 2022. She won a double matches while teaming with Canada's Victoria Mboko in a Wimbledon warm-up tournament in London, they the pair couldn't compete in the next round after Mboko got hurt. Serena Williams lost a first-round doubles match with the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova in Berlin.

Serena Williams has played just one singles match this year, a first-round loss to Australia's Maya Joint at Wimbledon. In that match, the 23-time major singles winner sustained an injury that kept her from competing with her sister in the Wimbledon doubles event.

Serena Williams has yet to reveal her plans for the U.S. Open, which starts on Aug. 30.

Venus Williams, 46, is 3-9 in doubles matches and 0-10 in singles matches in 2026.

On Monday, Stearns and Kostyuk jumped ahead 6-0 in the decisive first-to-10 tiebreaker that the pro tennis tours use in place of a third set in doubles. The Williams sisters rallied within 8-7 and 9-8 before Venus Williams served a match-ending double fault.

Venus Williams said, "It's our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it."

--Field Level Media