Serena Williams’ comeback to tennis after nearly a 12 months out produced an entertaining win in the Eastbourne doubles alongside Ons Jabeur.
Williams, 40, had not performed since retiring injured from her first-round match at Wimbledon final 12 months.
The American nice and Jabeur received 2-6 6-3 13-11 in opposition to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo and Czech Marie Bouzkova.
The pair fought again from a sluggish begin and took their third match level in entrance of an excited Eastbourne crowd.
“It was nice on the market and so enjoyable to play with Ons – we had a number of enjoyable. Our opponents performed wonderful and we have been completely satisfied to remain in there,” Williams mentioned.
Williams is ready to play in the singles at Wimbledon subsequent week after receiving a wildcard for the Grand Slam occasion.
This look at Eastbourne was designed to construct up her match sharpness for the All England Club, the place Williams has received seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles.
The outing in the East Sussex seaside city gave the impression to be ending relatively extra rapidly than she would have hoped as Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova dominated the opening set.
While Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova haven’t been common doubles companions, they’ve performed collectively earlier than and received a title in Istanbul in April.
An assured begin by them appeared ominous for Williams and Jabeur, however the star points of interest fought again beautifully in a extra aggressive second set.
That took the encounter to a match tie-break and, with gentle fading on a cool summer season night, Williams and Jabeur clinched victory when Sorribes Tormo put a backhand web volley extensive.
Williams yelled in delight earlier than high-fiving Jabeur and sharing a heat hug together with her taking part in associate.
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