{"id":1044334,"date":"2026-09-05T05:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T05:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1044334\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T05:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T05:28:20","slug":"serena-venus-williams-us-open-doubles-road-ends-with-tiebreaker-crusher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1044334\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena, Venus Williams’ US Open doubles road ends with tiebreaker crusher"},"content":{"rendered":"

It had been four years since Serena and Venus Williams played together in the U.S. Open<\/a>. They didn\u2019t win the match, but they sure claimed the moment. And the memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sisters crammed years\u2019 worth of peak drama into Friday\u2019s family reunion in Flushing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Serena making her comeback<\/a> after a layoff \u2014 she dislikes the word \u201cretirement\u201d \u2014 the sisters fell 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7) to Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A first-round doubles match does not ordinarily draw the loudest cheers of the tournament. But the Williams sisters are extraordinary. Ninety years between them, 44 Grand Slam titles, 14 in doubles, 11 here in Flushing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serena Williams (left) reacts as her sister Venus looks to console her during their first-round doubles match against Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t add another one this year after Friday\u2019s highly anticipated match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sisters won a second-set tiebreaker to level the match. After trailing 4-1 in the third, they stormed back to force another tiebreaker. They even reeled off nine straight points to go up 5-0 before finally running out of steam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The siblings dropped 10 of the last 12 in the tiebreak. Chan, an in-form doubles player, came up big at the net to help steal the victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But clearly not the spotlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was never going to happen, especially with Serena, 44, making her return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, kind of lost for words. It was an amazing match,\u201d Joint said. \u201cThey played really well. I [don\u2019t] think the atmosphere on the court was something that either of us has experienced quite like that before. Playing two legends of the game is just a super-special moment that [we] might not get again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Williams sisters declined interview requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Venus has been playing singles \u2014 more on that later \u2014 Serena had stepped away to be a mother. The sisters hadn\u2019t played doubles in the U.S. Open since a 2022 first-round loss that was presumed to be Serena\u2019s swan song here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just weeks earlier, Serena had written an essay in Vogue in which she said she was \u201cevolving away from tennis.\u201d But she was clear in pointing out her distaste for the word \u201cretirement.\u201d And thanks to prodding from her daughter, Olympia, that layoff may have been more of a break.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to play with Auntie VeVe,\u201d Serena recalled of Olympia\u2019s mandate this week on ABC\u2019s \u201cGood Morning America.\u201d \u201cShe said it so clear and so calm. She\u2019s like my mom, she doesn\u2019t really talk a lot, but when she does talk, you listen. And I was like, \u2018OK.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So Serena has returned, but so far has been largely foiled by Joint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venus and Serena Williams of the United States react during their doubles match against Hao-Ching Chan of Taipei and teammate Maya Joint of Australia. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

Serena lost to the 20-year-old Australian, a foe less than half her age, at Wimbledon. She injured her knee in that defeat and had to pull out of a planned doubles match with Venus, 46.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They finally played together last month in Cincinnati. And Friday, there was still rust plainly evident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venus got knocked out of the singles draw<\/a> in wee hours Monday, playing until past 2 a.m. She\u2019s dropped 15 straight singles matches since her last win in July 2025, prompting some to grouse over her receiving a wild card.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serena Williams of the United States and her sister Venus hit a return to Hao-Ching Chan of Taipei and teammate Maya Joint of Australia. Jason Szenes for NY Post<\/p>\n

But Friday she was the sharper of the sisters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serena, arguably the best server in history, struggled and was broken twice in the first set as they lost 6-3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the pair settled in during the second set as Serena took something off her fastball and started to serve better. They won the tiebreaker to force a third set.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The siblings trailed 4-1 but Joint\u2019s nerves started to fray. Serena attacked like a shark smelling blood, and they rallied to force a tiebreaker. They won nine straight points and went ahead 5-0 in the tiebreak before dropping 10 of the final dozen points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venus and Serena Williams of the United States walk out onto the court to play their doubles match. Jason Szenes for NY Post<\/p>\n

Joint and Chan won the match, but not the moment, as the Williams sisters walked off smiling and waving to cheers from the crowd, thanking them for the latest in a long line of memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying on Ashe, it\u2019s kind of [Serena\u2019s] home Slam. Singles, doubles, it\u2019s a bit different. It\u2019s both Serena and Venus, so just very similar and different at the same time,\u201d Joint said. \u201cBut it\u2019s awesome that I can say that I\u2019ve beaten her twice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It had been four years since Serena and Venus Williams played together in the U.S. Open. They didn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1044335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5224,62,1464,67,586,132,5230,68,20886,2969,46604],"class_list":["post-1044334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-serena-williams","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-open-tennis","tag-usa","tag-venus-williams"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117216785414216258","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1044335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}