Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint defeated Venus and Serena Williams 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7) in the first round of the US Open women's doubles tournament on Friday night in New York. The 14th seeds recovered from a 5-0 deficit in the deciding 10-point match tiebreak to win 10-7, ending the sisters' first Grand Slam doubles appearance together since the 2022 US Open after three hours and two minutes.
The match at a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium paired one of tennis's most successful teams with opponents from two generations. Venus, 46, and Serena, 44, entered on a wild card and brought a combined age of 90 to the court. Chan, representing Chinese Taipei, is 32, while Australia's Joint is 20. The Williams sisters had been seeking their first major doubles match victory since 2016.
Chan and Joint took the opening set after breaking serve and controlling the early exchanges. The Americans responded in the second set, saving pressure points and prevailing 8-6 in the tiebreak to force a decider. With Grand Slam doubles matches using a 10-point tiebreak instead of a full third set, Venus and Serena then raced to a 5-0 lead before the seeded pair changed the momentum.
The comeback carried an additional link between the players. Joint had also beaten Serena in three sets in the first round of Wimbledon in June, Serena's first singles match in nearly four years. At Flushing Meadows, Joint and Chan held their nerve despite a crowd strongly supporting the American sisters and won 10 of the final 12 points in the match tiebreak.
Venus and Serena have won 14 Grand Slam women's doubles titles together and never lost a major doubles final. Their record includes US Open championships in 1999 and 2009, as well as three Olympic doubles gold medals. The US Open said this was their first major tournament as a pair since a first-round defeat in New York four years earlier.
The result sends Chan and Joint into the second round against Nicole Fossa Huergo and Tamara Korpatsch. For the Williams sisters, the defeat closed a highly anticipated reunion but also showed their ability to extend an established seeded team deep into a deciding tiebreak. Neither sister announced a future doubles schedule after the match, leaving any further reunion uncertain.
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