Serena Williams will face an immediate test in her return to competition.
The wild-card team of Williams and Victoria Mboko was drawn against No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe in the opening round of the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club.
Routliffe, a former doubles World No. 1, owns two Grand Slam doubles titles and reached the 2024 Wimbledon final alongside longtime partner Gabriela Dabrowski. Melichar-Martinez has won 19 WTA doubles titles and captured the Wimbledon mixed doubles crown in 2018.
Despite their credentials, Melichar-Martinez and Routliffe are making their first tournament appearance as a team. Melichar-Martinez has spent much of the season partnering Cristina Bucsa before the Spaniard’s withdrawal from Queen’s Club due to injury, while Routliffe has teamed with several partners in 2026, including Asia Muhammad, Jelena Ostapenko and Zhang Shuai.
The WTA 500 event also features a strong singles field led by top seed Elena Rybakina, 2025 Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova, rising star Victoria Mboko and former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic.
Projected quarterfinals
Top half: (1) Rybakina vs. (8) Leylah Fernandez and (3) Mboko vs. (5) Marta Kostyuk
Bottom half: (4) Bencic vs. (7) Sorana Cirstea and (2) Anisimova vs. (6) Iva Jovic
Unseeded and looming: Alexandra Eala, Zheng Qinwen, Emma Raducanu, Maria Sakkari
First-rounds to watch
Kostyuk vs. (WC) Mika Stojsavljevic: After winning 17 straight matches on clay and reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros, Kostyuk opens her grass season against the 17-year-old Brit who won the junior title at the 2024 US Open.
Karolina Pliskova vs. McCartney Kessler: The former World No. 1 and 2019 Wimbledon finalist brings her comeback season to a surface that has historically been kind to her. The winner of this one faces Mboko in Round 2.
Fernandez vs. (WC) Katie Boulter: Former US Open finalist Fernandez opens against home favorite Boulter, who has two career grass-court WTA singles titles (both in Nottingham).
The HSBC Championships begins on June 8 and runs through June 14.
