Queen's return: Serena Williams set to play in Abu Dhabi

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The legendary Serena Williams will play her first match since her daughter’s birth when she faces off against French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi next week.

Serena Williams wins her 23rd Singles Grand Slam Title in Melbourne. /VCG Photo

The match will be the 36-year-old Williams' first in almost a year as she prepares to defend her Australian Open crown in January, a title she captured earlier this year while pregnant.

A few months after winning her 23rd Singles Grand Slam title in Melbourne, Williams revealed they were expecting their first child, a daughter named Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, whom they welcomed in September this year.

Serena Williams and her daughter /VCG Photo

Williams and Ostapenko will be the first women to participate in the 10th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, which has long marked the beginning of the men's global tennis season.

Jelena Ostapenko wins her first Grand Slam Title in Paris. /VCG Photo

Williams and Ostapenko have never played before. Williams holds 72 WTA singles title, while the Latvian has won a total of two titles in her career, including the French Open this year.

The non-ranking championship runs from Dec. 28 to 30. The first week of the tournament for the new season of the WTA will start from Dec. 31, both in Shenzhen and Brisbane, and the Auckland tournament will start on Jan. 1, 2018.