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Serena Williams will team up with sister Venus at Cincinnati Open

The Williams sisters are back on track for their doubles reunion.

Serena and Venus Williams were awarded a wild-card entry for the doubles tournament at the Cincinnati Open, organizers announced Monday. Venus was also awarded a wild-card entry for the women’s singles competition. The event will take place Aug. 8-23, with matches kicking off on Aug. 11.

This will mark the first time the iconic duo will be on the court together since the 2022 U.S. Open. The Williams sisters were previously set to play doubles together at Wimbledon last month, but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee during the singles competition. The loss to Maya Joint marked the younger Williams’ first singles match in almost four years.

The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals together. Fans have been anticipating their doubles reunion since Serena announced her return to competitive tennis in June.

The 44-year-old’s first event back was the doubles tournament at the HSBC Queen’s Club Championships in London earlier this summer, where she teamed up with Canadian Victoria Mboko. They won their first match, but had to exit after Mboko suffered a knee injury. Williams then partnered with Czech star Karolína Muchová for the WTA 500 Berlin Open. They were eliminated in the first round.

Venus, meanwhile, is competing in her record 33rd consecutive WTA season at age 46. She has previously reached the semifinals and quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Open in 2012 and 2019, respectively, and she holds a 12-10 overall record at the event.

This is the first time the Williams sisters will compete at the Cincinnati Open together as a team. The event is considered a premier warm-up tournament ahead of the U.S. Open, where Venus is set to play mixed doubles with Alexander Bublik. Serena has not yet said whether she plans to play the final Grand Slam of the year, which she has won six times in her singles career. The U.S. Open will be held from Aug. 23 to Sept. 13 in New York.



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Win at Wimbledon by Serena and Venus Williams would set an age record

A duo for the ages is convening once again.

The Williams sisters — Venus, 45, and Serena, 44 — will bring back their doubles partnership at Wimbledon in under two weeks. The All England Club announced the doubles wild card invitation on Tuesday.

Should they win for a record seventh time, the Williams sisters would make history as the oldest Grand Slam-winning doubles combo by nearly 16 years.

The record of 74 years and 303 days is held by Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strýcová, who won at Wimbledon in 2023. Venus will turn 46 on Wednesday and Serena will be 45 on Sept. 26, putting their combined age by the tournament’s end at 90 years and roughly 290 days.

The Williams sisters have won six doubles titles together at Wimbledon, most recently in 2016 with the first coming in 2000. They have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, the second most by any women’s team in the Open Era behind the 20 won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.

Serena recently returned to competition after almost four years away from professional tennis. She will compete in the Berlin Open doubles alongside world No. 10 singles player Karolína Muchová on Tuesday against Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos.

The initial tournament in Serena’s comeback was abbreviated. Her playing partner, Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, suffered a knee injury that ended their effort at the Queen’s Club Championship after one match, a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over No. 3 seeds Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

Venus, who will turn 46 on Wednesday, is in the midst of her record 33rd consecutive WTA season. She has been eliminated in the first round of singles at several tournaments while faring better in doubles.

The pairing at Wimbledon will be the first since 2022 for the Williams sisters. Serena took a long hiatus beginning that year and gave birth in 2023 to her second child, Adira River Ohanian.

Many of the sisters’ career highlights have come at Wimbledon. Serena has 14 titles on the hallowed grass court — six in doubles, one mixed doubles and seven in singles. Venus Williams has won 11 Wimbledon titles — five in singles and six in doubles.

Neither Williams sister is slated to play singles in this year’s tournament, although one women’s singles wild card has not been allocated.

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