Canada’s Victoria Mboko helps legend Serena Williams make triumphant return to tennis

Canadian tennis player Victoria Mboko says she’s ‘always admired’ Serena Williams on the court, noting her excitement to play with Williams in the match.

LONDON — Tennis legend Serena Williams made a triumphant return to the courts on Tuesday, with a big assist from Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko.

The 44-year-old Williams and the 19-year-old Mboko teamed up to beat New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States 7-6 (2) 6-2 in a doubles first-round match at the HSBC Championships grass-court tennis tournament.

Williams received a rousing ovation from the fans at The Queen’s Club in West London when she took the court for her first competitive match in over four years.

The 23-time singles Grand Slam champion, who also won 14 major doubles titles with her sister Venus, served for the match and set up match point with an ace.

Routliffe, who has played with several partners this year after she and Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski ended their successful partnership after last season, was seeded third with Melichar-Martinez at Queen’s Club.

Williams and Mboko, from Burlington, Ont., will next face Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Germany’s Laura Siegemund, who advanced to the doubles second round with a 6-2, 2-6, 11-9 win over Russia’s Alexandra Panova and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.

Fernandez formed a fan-favourite duo with Venus Williams last year, and the pair made a run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Leylah Fernandez of Canada plays a return to Kaite Boulter of Britain during their first round match at the Queen’s Club tennis championships in London, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Earlier, Fernandez was eliminated from singles competition with a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 loss to Britain’s Katie Boulter.

Fernandez, the eighth seed at The Queen’s Club in West London, was up a set and tied 3-3 in the second when the match was suspended Monday night due to darkness.

Boulter shook off the disruption when the match resumed to win a competitive second set.

Fernandez fought back from a break down in the third set, but her service game faltered again with the set tied 5-5 as Boulter regained the lead. The Briton then served out for the win.

Boulter will next face Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian at the WTA 500 event.

It was the first meeting between the players in a WTA Tour main draw. Boulter defeated Fernandez in qualifying at the 2018 Canadian Open in Montreal, and Fernandez returned the favour in qualifying at the 2023 Citi Open in Washington.