Venus and Serena Williams’ much-anticipated return to women’s doubles ended in a narrow first-round defeat at the Cincinnati Open on Monday.
The Williams sisters lost 6-2, 1-6, 8-10 to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and American Peyton Stearns in their first match together since the 2022 US Open.
Despite dropping the opening set, Venus and Serena fought back strongly to level the contest and came within two points of advancing in the deciding tiebreak.
The sisters, who received a wildcard entry, were hoping to make the most of the home crowd’s support ahead of the US Open, which begins in six days.
Kostyuk and Stearns will next face third seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Hanyu Guo in the second round.
