Venus Williams and Janice Tjen emerged victorious from their first-round match at the Guangzhou Open on Monday.
Williams and Tjen defeated Ekaterine Gorgodse and Kimberley Zimmermann 6-0, 7-5 in the Chinese city and will now play either Lyudmyla Kichenok and Makoto Ninomiya or second seeds Jesika Maleckova and Miriam Skoch in the second round.
The American seven-time major singles champion will compete against Lilli Tagger in the singles event on Tuesday.
Williams has achieved some impressive doubles results on the circuit throughout the 2026 campaign, including in Washington and Germany.
Venus Williams has won four doubles matches so far in 2026
Way back in January, Williams competed in her first doubles event of the season alongside Italian Open champion Elina Svitolina. The American-Ukrainian duo were downed in the first round by youngsters Alexandra Eala and Iva Jovic.
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Williams’ struggles continued over the next few months, as she suffered a further four consecutive defeats in doubles events.
The American would have to wait until April to record her first victory of the year. Williams and British player Katie Boulter defeated Jiang Xinyu and Xu Yifan in the Madrid Open first round, before losing to Hsieh Su-Wei and Sofia Kenin.
Williams returned to doubles competition at the end of June and reached the Bad Homburg Open quarter-finals alongside Alexandra Eala.
A month later, the 46-year-old and Diana Shnaider advanced to the Washington Open last eight before they succumbed to Tang Qianhui and Xu Yifan.
Three consecutive losses followed in Toronto, Cincinnati and New York; Venus suffered defeat in the US Open first round while competing alongside her sister Serena, losing 3-6, 7-6, 6-7 to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-Ching.
| Tournament | Partner | Result |
| ASB Classic | Elina Svitolina | lost in the first round |
| Australian Open | Ekaterina Alexandrova | lost in the first round |
| ATX Open | Peyton Stearns | lost in the first round |
| Indian Wells [Mixed Doubles] | Christian Harrison | lost in the first round |
| Miami Open | Leylah Fernandez | lost in the first round |
| Madrid Open | Katie Boulter | reached the second round |
| Bad Homburg Open | Alexandra Eala | reached the quarter-finals [second match] |
| Wimbledon [Mixed Doubles] | Kevin Krawietz | lost in the first round |
| Washington Open | Diana Shnaider | reached the quarter-finals [second match] |
| Canadian Open | Alexandra Eala | lost in the first round |
| Cincinnati Open | Serena Williams | lost in the first round |
| US Open | Serena Williams | lost in the first round |
| Guangzhou Open | Janice Tjen | advanced to the second round |
Williams’ most recent victory in Guangzhou represented her fourth success of the 2026 WTA season.
