Serena and Venus Williams crashed out of the US Open women’s doubles event after blowing up a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaks to lose to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint in the first round of the season-ending Grand Slam which the sisters have won twice as a team.
Serena made a return to tennis this year at the age of 44 while elder sister Venus has continued to play on the tour at 46. It was the first US Open match since 2022 for the pair.
The Williams sisters clawed their way back in the final set and the match to force a 10-point match tiebreaker after being down 4-1 at one stage. But in the tiebreaker, they were leading 5-0, before losing the match 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) to Chan and Joint. The momentum the pair had gained in the third set and in the first half of the tiebreaks was squandered when they both double-faulted in the second half of the tiebreaker.