Four years after she last picked up a racket in anger Serena Williams has made her return to professional tennis, and for much of the afternoon at Queen's Club in London it was like she had never been away.
Pairing up with Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko the 44-year-old served powerfully and delivered some stunning returns as the duo beat third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Kiwi Erin Routliffe 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.
In front of her daughters Olympia and Adira the 23-time grand slam singles champion received a rapturous reception in early evening sun by a home crowd already cheered by English successes.
Williams last played professionally at the US Open in September 2002, going out to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round in New York in front of more than 20,000 people - a night the Australian has said she'll always remember.
The long break hardly seemed to have affected her as Williams secured two of the pair's points enroute to a first-game victory, then immediately broke serve in the next before reaching a 182km/h in her first service game.
Williams subsequently dropped her second service game to level the first set up, despite cranking it up to 191kmh but the north American pair easily won the tie-break.
They cruised through the second set. Singles, with so much more ground to cover, would be a different proposition but in doubles the Williams-Mboko pairing looks formidable.
"It was so much fun, it felt so natural playing with Vicky," a beaming Williams said on court. "I guess I've got nothing better to do, I'm tired of sitting at home, my kids are out of school this summer so why not?"
Asked if she will compete at Wimbledon Williams said she still had not decided.
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