Williams sisters can't hold late lead, fall in US Open doubles

Serena Williams and Venus Williams, playing their first U.S. Open doubles match as teammates in four years, couldn't quite pull out a victory on Friday night in New York.

The 14th-seeded duo of Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Maya Joint of Australia shook off a 5-0 deficit in the decisive first-to-10 tiebreaker, emerging with a 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) win at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The Williams sisters won nine consecutive points late in the third set, en route to a five-point lead in the tiebreaker. The comeback by Chan and Joint was fueled in part by two double faults, one each from Venus Williams and Serena Williams.

A Serena Williams forehand error set up match point at 9-7, and Chan put away a volley at the net to close out the 3-hour, 2-minute match.

Joint emerged victorious over Serena Williams for the second time in two months, having also prevailed in a first-round Wimbledon singles match.

"I'm lost for words to think that that happened," Joint said post-match on court. "She's an idol of mine -- both of them. I looked up to them growing up. I grew up in Michigan, so I always looked up to them. Just to be able to play them twice is amazing."

Venus Williams, 46, and Serena Williams, 44, have teamed up to win 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, including U.S. Open titles in 1999 and 2009. Before Friday, they hadn't competed together at a major since losing in the first round of the 2022 U.S. Open, and they hadn't won a major doubles match since the 2018 French Open.

They hadn't played a U.S. Open doubles match that went beyond 5-5 in the third set since 2001.

Serena Williams returned to competitive tennis this summer, entering the women's doubles bracket at a Wimbledon warm-up tournament in London and teaming with Canada's Victoria Mboko. The pair won one match before exiting the tournament after Mboko sustained an injury during a singles match.

Serena Williams subsequently competed in women's doubles at two other events leading up to the U.S. Open, partnering with the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova once and with Venus Williams once, losing in the opening round each time. Serena Williams split two U.S. Open mixed doubles matches while competing with Spain's Carlos Alcaraz.

Serena Williams' lone singles match this year was her loss to Jelena at Wimbledon in three sets.

Venus Williams has an 0-12 singles record this year, including a first-round loss to Sofia Kenin at the U.S. Open. She now has a 3-10 doubles record in 2026.