Venus and Serena Williams have both seen their fair share of hardships since they won Olympic gold in Beijing, but they are back on the path to defend the women’s doubles crown.

The Williams began their gold medal defense with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the Romanian team of Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep. Venus and Serena successfully defended the four break points they faced and converted on four of six of their break opportunities. They should expect a much stiffer challenge in the second round where they are set up to face the German team of Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki.

Every time the Williams sisters have teamed up at the Olympics they have come home with the gold, winning first in Sydney in 2000 and most recently in Beijing in 2008; the two did not play together at Athens in 2004 as Serena sat out with a left knee injury.

Since their 2008 gold Serena has suffered a hematoma and pulmonary embolism (in 2011) and Venus has been diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome. But after those hardships the sisters seem back on track as they recently won the Wimbledon doubles crown on these same courts.