Serena and Venus Williams lost in their first doubles match together since 2022 while men’s top seed Alexander Zverev battled into the fourth round on Monday at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters. The Williams sisters, with 14 Grand Slam titles and three Olympic gold medals together, were side-by-side for the first time since the 2022 US Open but lost to American Payton Stearns and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 1-6, 10-8.
“It was fun and special. “I didn’t come here to win this tournament. It’s about having fun and I did want to do the best I could. “It was a tough day with all the interruptions. I can’t remember a match that started and stopped so many times. I’m happy with how I found a way.”
German star Zverev, the reigning French Open champion, won his ATP season-best 46th match of the campaign by defeating Terrance Atmane 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6). Serena, 44, and Venus, 46, each lost serve once in the first set, dropping six of the final seven games, but dominated the second set and rallied from 8-2 down in the 10-point tie-breaker third set only to lose on a Venus double fault. Alexandra Eala, the 17th-seeded Filipina, lost to US ninth seed Amanda Anisimova, who recovered after losing a 65-minute opening set for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory. The opener featured a 20-minute fifth game, with Eala, 21, coming back from a break down before Anisimova battled back.
We kicked off a little rust,” Serena Williams said. “You never want to go into a rain delay leading 5-1,” he said.
