Serena, Venus get doubles wildcard

PARIS: Serena and Venus Williams were handed a wild card into the French Open women’s doubles Thursday as the American sisters seek to add a third Roland Garros title to their triumphs in 1999 and 2010.

They have won 14 Grand Slam doubles as a team but since their last win together in Paris they have only featured on two further occasions at the tournament, losing in the first round in 2013 and the third round in 2016.

Serena, a three-time singles champion at the French Open, will be playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since winning the Australian Open in 2017 after which she stepped off the tour to give birth to her daughter in September.

On Thursday, she was drawn to face Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the first round of the singles which gets underway on Sunday. Venus starts against China’s Wang Qiang.