The return of Venus and Serena Williams as a pair ended in a 6-2, 1-6, 10-8 defeat to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns in front of a packed crowd.
But the 44-year-old returned to the tour in June in doubles before playing singles as a wildcard at Wimbledon, per BBC Sport.
Serena was pulled out of a proposed doubles comeback with Venus after suffering a knee injury in her first-round loss to Maya Joint at SW19.
Post-Match Reaction
“We’ve waited a long time to get back on the doubles court. Eventually, we find our way to each other,” Venus, 46, said.
“We give each other so much grace and encouragement.
“This is our first time playing together in forever, and I think we’re really getting [into] our stride.”
Serena was playing her first match since Wimbledon and Venus has played singles and doubles at three hardcourt events over the last couple of weeks.
The pair made a poor start against Ukraine’s Kostyuk and American Stearns but shook off “a little rust” in the second set, Serena said.
They quickly trailed 6-0 in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker but clawed back admirably.
Serena had two service winners to get the tie-break back on serve but Kostyuk and Stearns held their nerve before sealing the tie-break with a double fault from Venus.
“I thought it was fun, it was special, it was good,” Serena said.
“We were starting to feel it. It was really cool to be able to do this again.”
