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Williams sisters to face Czech pair in US Open doubles

August 28, 2022 GMT

FILE - Serena Williams, left, of the United States, and her sister Venus examine the championship trophy after winning the women's doubles championship over Cara Black, of Zimbabwe, and Liezel Huber, of the United States, at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2009. Serena and Venus Williams were given a wild-card entry for women's doubles at the U.S. Open on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022, making it their first tournament as a team in more than four years. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Serena and Venus Williams were drawn to face the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round of doubles at the U.S. Open.

The U.S. Tennis Association announced the doubles brackets Sunday, a day before the tournament begins. Serena has said she is preparing to retire and the expectation is that the U.S. Open will be her last event.

She plays in singles Monday night. The doubles competition will begin Wednesday, with first-round matches spread over that day and Thursday.

It is the first doubles event for the Williams sisters together since the 2018 French Open. They have won 14 Grand Slam championships in in doubles as a team, most recently at Wimbledon inn 2016.

Two of their doubles titles came at the U.S. Open, in 1999 and 2009.

Hradecka is a 37-year-old who won two major doubles trophies with Andrea Hlavackova — at the 2013 U.S. Open and 2011 French Open. Noskova is a 17-year-old who never has won a Grand Slam match in singles or doubles.

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