Serena Williams marked her return to tennis with a doubles win at Eastbourne International.
Teaming up with Madrid Open champion, Ons Jabeur, the 23-time grand slam champion came from a set down to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova 2-6 6-3, 13-11.
The former world no.1 has not played competitive tennis since injuring herself at last year’s Wimbledon championship. But having been granted entry to this year’s tournament as a wildcard, Williams is using Eastbourne to get her tennis feet underneath her.
Her rustiness was on full display in the opening set as the 40-year-old was broken in the first as Spaniard Sorribes Tormo and her Czech partner easily took the opening set.
William’s run at Eastbourne seemed to be over early as Sorribes and Bouzkova secured three successive breaks at the start of the second to help put them in a commanding position.
However, displaying her tenacity, Williams fired a ferocious volley to kickstart her team’s survival bid before firing a forehand to break their opponents back.
The American then held her serve to take the match into a deciding third-set tiebreak in which both teams held matchpoints with Williams and Jabeur eventually eking out a win.
Serena Williams being at Eastbourne has brought a lot of attention to a tournament that is usually just used by professionals as a warmup for Wimbledon.
The tournament has already seen some big upsets with Jodie Burrage outsing top-seed Paula Badosa of Spain 6-4, 6-3 while Katie Boulter sent the fourth seed Karolina Pliskova packing with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
Third seed Maria Sakkari also fell, with Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina prevailing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in their encounter.
