Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Serena and Venus Williams turned back the clock on their highly anticipated return to women’s doubles after a four-year hiatus, dazzling the crowd with sensational shot-making but ultimately ending up on the wrong side of a three-set thriller at the Cincinnati Open on Monday night.
Playing together as wild cards in their first doubles match since the 2022 US Open, the legendary duo fell 2-6, 6-1, 8-10 to the freshly formed pair of Marta Kostyuk and Mason native Peyton Stearns. The loss also marked the sisters’ first appearance together in a non-Grand Slam event since the 2016 Italian Open.
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The iconic pair got off to a slow start, dropping the opening set 2-6 as they worked to rediscover their rhythm on court. However, the 14-time Grand Slam doubles champions quickly found their rhythm in the second set, rolling past their opponents 6-1 to force a deciding match tie-break.
Kostyuk and Stearns sprinted to a commanding 6-0 lead in the tie-break, but the Williams sisters launched a ferocious comeback. Capitalising on consecutive double faults from Kostyuk, Serena and Venus narrowed the gap to 8-7. Serena then brought the capacity crowd to its feet with a powerful overhead smash to save a match point at 9-8. The rally ultimately came to an abrupt end when Venus double-faulted on the final point.
“I thought it was fun,” Serena, 44, said following her summer tour return. “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 having fun. It was really cool to be able to do this again.”
“Eventually we would find our way to each other,” added the 46-year-old Venus. “It’s our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it.”
Despite facing two of the sport’s greatest icons, 24-year-olds Kostyuk and Stearns managed to navigate a fiercely pro-Williams crowd in Stearns’ hometown.
“I kind of expected it, but it stung a little bit that this is my hometown,” Stearns said about the 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.”
Kostyuk added: “The crowd got the show. They probably couldn’t ask for anything better. At the end, a tie-break is a lottery. You never know which way it’s going to go.”
The iconic pairing holds an extraordinary shared legacy, boasting 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, 22 total team titles and three Olympic gold medals together. Individually, Serena holds 23 Grand Slam singles titles, while Venus has won seven.
In other action around the grounds on Monday, defending Cincinnati champion Iga Swiatek rallied from a set down to win her eighth consecutive match, beating Maria Sakkari 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina beat Magdalena Frech 6-4, 7-6, while third-ranked Jessica Pegula topped 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).
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
