Serena and Venus Williams were dramatically denied a sensational winning return at the US Open. The sister act took 14th seeds Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching to a dramatic deciding-set tie-break.
The Arthur Ashe Stadium was threatening to party like it was 1999 when the Williams’ led 5-0. But Serena’s serve let them down at a crucial stage, with Australian Joint and Chan of Chinese Taipei winning 6-3 6-7 (6) 7-6 (10-7).
The illustrious siblings had returned to the US Open doubles tournament for first time since 2022, and 27 years after they first won the title.It was certainly an occasion worthy of the wild card Serena, 44, and 46-year-old Venus were given as their every winner was cheered to the rafters of a packed stadium.
There could be more to come as well after ESPN commentator Caroline Wozniacki revealed she believes Serena wants to return to singles next year.
It is not often that the hottest ticket in town in New York on a Friday night is a first-round doubles match.
In fact, Joint and Chan did remarkably well to keep their composure amid the New York razzmatazz.
It was Joint, the 20-year-old Australian, who beat Serena in three tight sets on her singles return at Wimbledon.
The 23-time singles grand slam champion suffered a knee injury in that match which ruled her out of the doubles with her sister at SW19.
They might have a combined age of 90 but the Williams’ rolled back the years at times, and all of Ashe was on its feet when a penetrating Venus volley was put away by Serena’s swinging winner.
But two breaks of Serena’s serve – which had looked in good shape at Wimbledon and in her mixed doubles run-out with Carlos Alcaraz last week – cost them the first set.
They hit back in the second set tie-break, finally converting a fifth set point when a Joint overhead floated long.The decider also rumbled into a tie-break, the the first time the duo had been past 5-5 in a third set since 2001.
But they stumbled badly in sight of the finishing line and a Chan volley ended the much-anticipated comeback.
