In the U.S.-Netherlands tie, Serena Williams played her first official event in more than a year, competing with her sister Venus Williams against Dutch doubles star Demi Schuurs and Lesley Kerkhove.
The rubber—which the siblings dropped—didn’t have any impact on the outcome of the tie as Venus clinched it with her second singles win. It was a good opportunity, though, for Serena to start her comeback under match conditions.
As far as doubles results that did determine who would advance, Kristina Mladenovic and Amandine Hesse of France beat Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and Elise Mertens in three sets to clinch their tie. It was the third point Mladenovic had a hand in as she won both her singles rubbers.
Belarus, last year’s surprise finalists, dropped the deciding doubles rubber to Germany, as Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Tatjana Maria rallied to beat Lidziya Marozava and Aryna Sabalenka.
DUTCH DOUBLES
Matwe Middelkoop and Robin Haase of the Netherlands are proving to be quite the team this year. The duo won its second title of 2018 at the Sofia Open over Alexander Peya and Nikola Mektic.