Maya Joint Stuns Williams Sisters Again in US Open Doubles
Under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, with a crowd that came to celebrate a reunion, Maya Joint came to spoil it.
The Australian, partnering Hao-Ching Chan, dragged Serena and Venus Williams out of their own party, clawing back from 0–5 down in a deciding match tiebreak to win 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (10-7) in a dramatic first-round doubles clash at the US Open.
This is becoming a habit. At Wimbledon, Joint sent Serena out of the singles in the first round on Centre Court. In New York, she did it again, this time with Venus alongside her younger sister and a packed stadium willing them to turn back time.
A Night-Session Stage, a Throwback Feel
First-round doubles almost never gets the night-session treatment on Arthur Ashe. This was different. Two legends returning to the Grand Slam doubles stage for the first time since 2022, back in the arena where they lifted the trophy in 1999 and 2009, and where they had compiled a 27-8 record in 10 previous appearances.
The atmosphere matched the billing. Every Serena serve, every Venus volley, every changeover drew the sense that this might be one more chapter in a story that once felt endless.
For a set, Joint and Chan didn’t play the role of respectful guests. They broke early, held firm, and took the opening set 6-3, quieting the noise and putting the sisters under immediate pressure.
Williams Fightback Forces a Decider
The second set turned into a scrap. Joint and Chan continued to dictate, but Serena and Venus, who once ruled women’s doubles with 14 Grand Slam titles and Olympic gold medals in 2000, 2008 and 2012, refused to fade.
They pushed the set into a tiebreak. The tension rose, the crowd leaned in, and the Williams sisters, backed by that familiar roar, edged it 7-6 (8-6). Suddenly the match felt like a throwback to their dominant years, when they shared the No. 1 ranking in women’s doubles and intimidated opponents by sheer presence.
Joint and Chan did not flinch. They surged ahead 4-1 in the deciding set, taking back control with clean returning and sharp net play. The upset looked on.
Then the Williams response came again.
From 0–5 to Victory
Serena and Venus reeled them in, game by game, feeding off the crowd and their own history. When they stormed to a 5-0 lead in the first-to-10 match tiebreak, Arthur Ashe shook. A dream comeback win seemed almost inevitable. One more storybook finish. One more escape.
It never arrived.
The pressure flipped in an instant. Both sisters double-faulted in the breaker, and the belief that had carried them back began to crack. Joint and Chan seized the opening, ripping through 10 of the last 12 points. The 5-0 deficit disappeared, the stadium fell into stunned disbelief, and the underdogs walked off with a 10-7 tiebreak and a place in the second round.
For Serena and Venus, it was another loss decided by the thinnest of margins. They had already fallen in a match tiebreak at the Cincinnati Open earlier in the summer. This one, on a Grand Slam stage they once owned, cut deeper.
A Delayed Return, a Harsh Reality
Their doubles comeback was supposed to start earlier. The sisters had planned a Grand Slam return at Wimbledon, only for Serena’s knee injury to force a withdrawal and push everything back to New York.
This was their first major doubles appearance since that 2022 US Open run, which looked at the time like a farewell. Serena stepped away from tennis after that tournament with 23 Grand Slam singles titles to her name, leaving the sport with the sense that the Williams era had finally closed.
She came back this summer. She came back to play again with Venus. Instead, she now leaves New York with two fresh heartbreaks alongside her sister and another reminder that time, even for legends, refuses to rewind.
Venus, who also lost in the first round of singles, walks away from this US Open with more questions than answers. The crowd still comes for them. The spotlight still finds them. The aura still lingers.
But on this night, under the Ashe lights, it belonged to Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan, who stared down the Williams sisters at 0–5 and turned what looked like a coronation into another stunning exit.
