Serena Williams 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 (August 17, 2026) at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
“It was fun and special. We kicked off a little rust,” Ms. “I didn’t come here to win this tournament. It’s about having fun and I did want to do the best I could. “He made it difficult for you to play aggressive yourself. Ms. Venus Williams double fault. “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.”
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 U.S. Open but lost to American Payton Stearns and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 1-6, 10-8. 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 Williams , 44, and Ms. Venus Williams, 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 Ms.
Serena Williams said. “He was playing incredibly aggressively, hitting forehands all over the court,” Mr. Zverev said. Serena Williams reacts as she returns a shot against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Peyton Stearns of the United States in a doubles match during the Cincinnati Open | Photo Credit: Reuters “You never want to go into a rain delay leading 5-1,” he said.
