LONDON -- Serena Williams marked her return to professional tennis with a straight-sets doubles victory alongside partner Victoria Mboko on Tuesday, downing Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe at the HSBC Championships.
Williams, 44, who last played four years ago at the 2022 US Open, is through to the quarterfinals alongside 19-year-old Canadian Mboko. The pair came through a tough opening set to win in emphatic fashion, 7-6, 6-2, in front of a sellout crowd.
Williams' future beyond next week remains unclear, but she has said that having fun and playing in front of her family are her immediate focus. Husband Alexis Ohanian and children Olympia and Adira watched from the stands during Tuesday's match.
"I don't know. I had nothing better to do, I got tired of sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer, so why not?" Williams said on court following the match. "I never got to play here, it was always just the men. It feels really special to play somewhere so iconic."
Despite a glittering career and an insistence on Sunday she had "nothing to lose" ahead of her hugely anticipated return, Williams said there were some pre-match nerves as the moment approached.
"I was nervous, but I didn't really think about it ... I just thought about having fun, which I did today," Williams said. "I get nervous right before the match, like 30 minutes before ... Then I just let it go."
Any tension certainly didn't show.
Williams and Mboko started strong and instantly looked like a coherent team, going out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, much to the delight of those on site at Queen's Club. The fans made no secret of their desire to see the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion make a successful return to the court and prolong her stay in west London, just a few miles from Wimbledon -- where she won seven singles titles.
Despite a 1,375-day absence, it did not take Williams long to get back up to speed. She still showed her trademark power -- hitting service winners of up to 120 mph -- and her competitiveness came through from the start. Points won were met with fist pumps and mistakes were followed by a shake of the head and the odd groan.
Williams was the aggressor of the pair but didn't overplay her hand as she eased back into the professional scene. She still finished the match in style, firing down two aces including the match winner to clinch victory.
"I mean, I thought she was moving great," Mboko said. "There was moments in the match where, I think there was that one shot [Williams] hit, you were on the run ... and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, she's got it.'
"[From] my perspective, I feel like it's all great. It was a lot of fun. It was amazing."
Williams and Mboko are set to play again on Thursday, while Williams has also confirmed she will play at the Berlin Tennis Open in Germany next week. Asked if the match had pushed her any closer to deciding if a Wimbledon return was possible, Williams said she was still taking things "one day at a time."