Williams' Queen's campaign in doubt after Mboko injury

Serena Williams' doubles campaign at Queen's is in jeopardy after her partner Victoria Mboko suffered a knee injury in her singles match against Karolina Pliskova.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, 44, made her return to tennis on Tuesday after almost four years away from the sport, playing doubles alongside Mboko.

The pair knocked out the third seeds, but there is now uncertainty around their quarter-final match on Thursday after Mboko suffered a nasty fall.

The 19-year-old Canadian cried out in pain as she slipped while trying to reach a forehand by Pliskova, who was facing break point, and went down clutching her left knee.

Mboko was able to get to her feet and walk back to her chair a few moments later, but she was visibly upset and covered her face with a towel before retiring and limping off the court in tears.

"It's such a shame. I think we played quite a good game and she was improving as the match was going on," said 2021 Wimbledon finalist Pliskova, who was leading 6-2 3-4.

"I wish her only the best. It's not the way I want to win so hopefully she is going to be fine for Wimbledon."

Mboko and Williams are scheduled to face Canada's Leylah Fernandez and Germany's Laura Siegemund in the last eight on Thursday - scheduled for 17:30 BST.

"It's a heartbreaker, you hate to see that," former British number one Annabel Croft said on BBC Two. "She would've been so excited to play with Serena once again.

"It's just a classic grass-court injury where the legs go in different directions and then you twist the knee. You just hope and pray that she's not out for Wimbledon."

Wimbledon, the only grass-court Grand Slam on the calendar, starts on Monday, 29 June.

"She's absolutely devastated and it's devastating for all the fans watching her because she's such a great, bright hope and doing so well out there on the tour," Croft added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Amanda Anisimova sailed past Siegemund as she returned to the grass for the first time since her heavy Wimbledon final defeat last year.

The American reached her first Grand Slam final at the All England Club last season, but suffered an excruciating 6-0 6-0 loss against Poland's Iga Swiatek.

It was the first time a woman had won a Wimbledon final with a double bagel - the name given to a victory without dropping a game - since Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1911.

But the 24-year-old, a finalist at Queen's last year, showed why she is so effective on grass with a commanding 6-1 6-3 win over world number 44 Siegemund.

"It was an incredible year for me last year," said Anisimova, who finished as runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the 2025 US Open.

"A lot of highs, a lot of low moments where there were some tough lessons I had to learn but those are the ones that shaped me as a person and a athlete.

"I'm trying to carry that into this year - everything that I learned."

The second seed, who received a first-round bye, will face fellow American Iva Jovic in the quarter-finals.

The 18-year-old sixth seed defeated her good friend Alexandra Eala, 21, for the second time in two weeks with a 6-2 6-2 victory on Andy Murray Arena.

"There is no bad blood. We were just talking in the locker room. It's all good. We're back to being friends now off the court," said Jovic, who also beat Eala in the first round of the French Open.

On Thursday, all three remaining British players play their last-16 matches - Emma Raducanu facing in-form Sorana Cirstea, Katie Boulter taking on Romanian Jaqueline Cristian and Harriet Dart playing lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova - after her initial opponent Belinda Bencic pulled out with a "small" ankle injury.