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Coco Gauff, Venus Williams to team up for French Open doubles

Coco Gauff and Venus Williams are teaming up in doubles at the French Open.

The women's doubles draw was announced in Paris on Sunday and Gauff, 17, and Williams, 40, are a surprise entry.

Gauff has beaten Williams twice in Grand Slam singles action -- at Wimbledon in 2019 and at the Australian Open last year.

Williams is a seven-time major singles champion and owns another 14 Slam doubles titles that she won with her younger sister, Serena.

Gauff and Williams will face 13th-seeded Ellen Perez and Zheng Saisai in the first round.

Other pairings include 2020 French Open singles champion Iga Swiatek with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and 2019 singles champ Ash Barty with Jennifer Brady.

The No. 1-seeded team is Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens.