Serena and Venus Williams saw their long-awaited return to the U.S. Open women’s doubles draw end in a dramatic three-set defeat on Friday night. Playing together at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2022, the sisters endured a grueling contest that spanned more than three hours at Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Williams pair dropped the opening set 6-3 but rallied to force two tiebreakers. Ultimately, they fell to the unseeded-but-effective pairing of Australia\u2019s Maya Joint and Taiwan\u2019s Hao-Ching Chan, winning the decisive tiebreaker 10-6 to seal a 6-3, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (10) victory.<\/p>\n
The loss marks another setback for the 44-year-old Serena, who returned to professional tennis this year after a four-year hiatus. Joint, a 20-year-old Australian, had previously defeated Serena in singles at Wimbledon earlier this summer. During the doubles encounter, Serena sustained a knee injury, a recurrence that had already forced her to withdraw from her scheduled doubles match alongside Venus at the All England Club.<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old Venus also faced elimination in her singles draw early Monday morning, bowing out of her 26th U.S. Open appearance. Playing against fellow American wild card Sofia Kenin after a midnight start, Venus lost 6-2, 7-6 (6). The defeat extended her winless streak in singles to 15 consecutive matches, dating back to a victory in Washington in July 2025.<\/p>\n
Before Friday’s doubles match, Venus declined to speculate on her future in the sport. “I don’t think I should have to,” she told reporters regarding her career trajectory. “My mind is fully focused on that: how I recover from this completely insane evening and get ready for the next one.”<\/p>\n
The Williams sisters, who captured the U.S. Open women’s doubles title in 1999 and 2009, hold a 27-7 record in nine tournament appearances together. Their last meeting at the event in 2022 ended in a first-round loss, widely anticipated to be Serena\u2019s final appearance in New York.<\/p>\n