Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki have led long careers with the racket and are known to be very good friends, and they made a bit of personal history when they teamed up for the first time on Monday in a doubles fixture.
The former World No. 1s were paired up to face Japanese duo Nao Hubino and Makoto Ninomiya at the ASB Classic in Auckland New Zealand.
Williams and Wozniacki have 24 Grand Slam titles and 102 WTA singles titles won between them. The former has won 23 doubles titles - 13 of those Grand Slams and three being Olympic titles - most of which came from partnerships with her sister Venus Williams. However, in her first doubles match without her sibling since 2015, Serena went 6-2, 6-4 with Wozniacki at her side. Where a WTA tournament is concerned, she hadn’t played with someone who wasn’t Venus since 2002.
Wozniacki hadn’t played in doubles competition in three years herself but the two tennis stars had been longing to play alongside each other for some time.
"It was so much fun, I really enjoyed that," Wozniacki said, per ESPN. "I've been around for a long time and to get to play with Serena was amazing.
"It wouldn't be the same if I didn't at least once get to play with her on the same side. She's beaten me a lot of times on the other side, so it's actually nice that we can win together for once."
Williams claimed that she couldn’t have let either of their careers come to an end before pairing with her latest doubles partner.
"It doesn't seem like she hasn't played in a long time because she played unbelievable,” she declared. "It's cool. I can't let the rest of both of our amazing careers go without playing with her. With her doing so well as a Grand Slam champion and a longtime No. 1 for so long, of course I want to share the court with her."
The Dane, who is playing in the Auckland tourney for the sixth consecutive year, is set to retire from professional tennis after this year’s Australian Open. She will play Serena a final time in an exhibition match in Copenhagen in May in what will be a farewell affair.
Meanwhile, American teenager Coco Gauff remains on course for her first meeting with Williams after beating Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-3, 6-1 on Monday. The top-seeded Williams will play Italian Camila Giorgi while Wozniacki will play New Zealand national Paige Hourigan.
Williams is currently the Bet365 sport betting favorite to win the ASB Classic, with the bookmakers offering odds of 5/2 on her chances, having placed 14/1 on Wozniacki. She’s also the favorite to win the Australian Open later this month at 11/2 while Wozniacki is a distant 33/1.
Bet365 have 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu at 7/1, with Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka in behind at 8/1. Simona Halep is 9/1 to win the tournament, Karolina Pliskova is 12/1, Aryna Sabalenka is 16/1 and Elina Svitolina is 18/1.
