Serena and Venus Williams saw their Grand Slam doubles reunion end in heartbreak on Thursday as the legendary sisters squandered a 5-0 lead in the decisive super tiebreak to lose 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7) to 14th seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint in the first round of women's doubles at the 2026 US Open.
Playing together at a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2022 US Open — an event billed at the time as Serena's farewell — the Williams sisters fought for over three hours inside a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium before falling to the Australian-Taiwanese pairing. The defeat extended a difficult return to competitive tennis for both players: Serena, 44, now owns a 1-4 record across singles and doubles since coming back this summer, while Venus, 46, lost in the singles first round to Sofia Kenin earlier in the week.
The opening set went firmly to Chan and Joint, who broke early and controlled the tempo to take it 6-3. Serena struggled to land her first serve throughout, often reduced to rolling in second-serve pace deliveries under pressure. Venus, by contrast, was frequently the better player on court, but the pair could not find the cohesion needed against a seeded team with considerable doubles pedigree — Joint is a top-30 doubles player, and Chan is a former world No. 5 and Wimbledon finalist.
The Williams sisters regrouped in the second set and pushed it to a tiebreak, which they won 7-6(6) to level the match. The momentum appeared firmly with them as they built a commanding 5-0 lead in the third-set super tiebreak, needing just two more points to close out the match. But Joint and Chan produced an extraordinary fightback, winning seven consecutive points to seize the tiebreak 7-6(7) and end the Williams sisters' campaign.
The match marked only the second time the sisters had played together since reuniting at the Cincinnati Open in July, where they also lost in the first round. Before Cincinnati, they had not competed as a doubles team since Serena's supposed retirement tournament in New York four years ago.
Despite the result, both sisters gave no indication that this might be their final appearance together. Serena has repeatedly stressed that her comeback is not about winning but about showing her daughters, Olympia and Adira, the world she once inhabited. The atmosphere inside Arthur Ashe was electric, with the crowd roaring for nearly every Williams point in a match that carried far more emotional weight than a typical first-round doubles encounter.
For Joint and Chan, the victory sets up a second-round meeting against another seeded pair. The 14th seeds showed composure under intense pressure from the crowd and their celebrated opponents, eventually finding the clinical edge that the Williams sisters could not sustain when it mattered most.
Sources
- https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/05/serena-venus-williams-us-open-doubles-defeat
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-05/serena-williams-venus-williams-us-open-loss/107119972
- https://www.ubitennis.com/blog/2026/09/05/us-open-cuore-williams-sullashe-ma-il-doppio-e-di-joint-e-chan/
