In her return to tennis after retiring in 2022, Serena Williams showcased her signature dominance in a doubles victory. Williams teamed with Victoria Mboko in the HSBC Championships women’s doubles event at Queen’s Club in London. The pair defeated Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6, 6-2. Melichar-Martinez and Routliffe entered the tournament as the No. 3 seeds.
Williams, who stepped away from tennis in 2022, displayed many of the skills that made her a household name. She delivered powerful backhands and recorded serves reaching 120 mph. Williams and Mboko finished with two aces, won 69% of their service points, converted 60% of their break-point opportunities, and collected 64 total points. Despite the victory, the 23-time Grand Slam champion believes there is still room for improvement.
“I think Vicky’s doing great. I need to make some returns next match, which I will,” Williams said, laughing. “I didn’t miss one in practice. That was a little embarrassing out there.”
Mboko also agreed there was room for improvement and said her upcoming singles match would help her sharpen her game.
“There’s always room for improvement. I think never being satisfied with yourself is always the way to go. I have singles tomorrow so I really like how I got to use this as a little bit [of] repetition, and I know going into tomorrow it’s going to be a bit better.”
Williams quickly took a positive approach.
“But you know, the good news is we can do better. I can do better.”
Williams and Mboko now advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund on Thursday.
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