Williams Sisters Fall in Dramatic US Open Doubles Return

Serena and Venus Williams were eliminated in the first round of the US Open women’s doubles after a dramatic three-set defeat to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Guardian reported that the 14th-seeded Australian-Taiwanese team prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7) in a match lasting three hours.

Watch the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dHz0kNVAoc

The Williams sisters recovered repeatedly before the contest turned in the deciding tie-break. They had trailed 4-1 in the third set but fought back, then moved 5-0 ahead in the tie-break. Joint and Chan won the decisive stretch to complete the victory and advance from a first-round match played before a reported crowd of 23,000.

The match marked another doubles reunion for the sisters after they returned as a team at the Cincinnati Open earlier in the summer. Before Cincinnati, they had not played women’s doubles together since the 2022 US Open, which had been billed at the time as Serena’s final tournament.

Serena, 44, did not accept a singles wildcard for this US Open after sustaining a knee injury during her singles comeback at Wimbledon in July. She had also appeared in mixed doubles in New York alongside Carlos Alcaraz. Venus, 46, competed in singles at Flushing Meadows but lost her opening match to Sofia Kenin.

Joint and Chan brought significant doubles credentials into the contest. The Guardian identified Joint as a top-30 doubles player, while Chan is a former world No. 5 in the discipline and a Wimbledon finalist. They withstood the Williams sisters’ recovery and the support of the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd to close out the final-set tie-break.

The appearance added another chapter to the sisters’ long history at the US Open. Venus reached the singles final in 1997, and Serena won her first Grand Slam singles title at the tournament in 1999. Venus claimed her first US Open singles title the following year, and in 2001 they became the first siblings to meet in a Grand Slam singles final. Neither sister indicated after Friday’s defeat whether the match would be their final appearance together.