Williams Sisters' Emotional Comeback Ends in Upset at US Open
Serena and Venus Williams walked back into Arthur Ashe Stadium as if stepping through a time portal. Same walk, same aura, same electricity crackling through the stands. For three hours and two minutes, the clock spun backwards.
The result said otherwise.
Maya Joint and Chan Hao-Ching survived a wild, emotional, first-round epic in the US Open women’s doubles, edging the Williams sisters 6-3 6-7 (8-6) 7-6 (10-7) in a match that felt less like an opening round and more like a farewell concert and a passing of the torch rolled into one.
A comeback loaded with history
This was Serena and Venus together at a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2022 US Open, 27 years after they first lifted the doubles trophy in New York. The numbers hanging over the night were staggering: 14 Grand Slam doubles titles as a pair, two of them in this stadium, three Olympic gold medals together, and another 30 major singles titles between them.
The comeback, Serena has said, came at the suggestion of her daughter. On Friday night, it came wrapped in nostalgia, expectation and noise. Every clean strike, every angled volley, every flash of that familiar swagger was met with a roar from 23,000 fans who had no intention of treating this like a routine first round.
They were here to see the Williams sisters one more time. Maybe not for the last time.
Joint’s summer of a lifetime
On the other side of the net stood a 20-year-old Australian who has spent her summer rewriting her own script. Maya Joint had already taken out Serena on Centre Court at Wimbledon in singles. Now she found herself back across the net from her idol, under the lights of Arthur Ashe, this time with Chan Hao-Ching at her side.
Joint called it “super special” on court. She admitted she was “lost for words,” spoke of growing up in Michigan and idolising both sisters, and marvelled at the chance to face them twice in one summer. The emotion was obvious. The composure under pressure, even more so.
Williams magic, with a cruel twist
For stretches, the Williams sisters looked like they had turned back the years. The combined age might be 90, but the instincts remain sharp. Venus knifed volleys, Serena unloaded on returns, and the crowd responded as if it were 2001 again.
One point captured it perfectly: Venus drove a penetrating volley, Serena stepped in and ripped the finishing winner. Ashe erupted. For a moment, everything felt familiar.
But the margins at this level are unforgiving. Two breaks of Serena’s serve in the opening set – despite the serve looking strong at Wimbledon and in her mixed doubles outing with Carlos Alcaraz last week – tilted the opener to Joint and Chan, 6-3.
The sisters refused to fade. The second set became a scrap, every hold a small victory, every return game a surge of belief. They dragged it into a tie-break and then into drama. Four set points came and went. On the fifth, Joint’s overhead drifted long. The stadium exploded. The Williams sisters had levelled it, 7-6 (8-6), and the night suddenly felt like it might script a fairytale.
The final tie-break that slipped away
The decider brought tension, not flow. Games stayed tight, service holds came under siege, and the match crept towards its inevitable destination: another tie-break. Remarkably, it was the first time Serena and Venus had been beyond 5-5 in a deciding set together since 2001.
They surged early. The scoreboard read 5-0 in the match tie-break. The noise became deafening. The story seemed ready to write itself.
Then it all turned.
Joint and Chan settled, found their rhythm, and started punching holes in the narrative. The Williams sisters, so close to a winning return, faltered. The lead vanished. The errors crept in. The momentum flipped.
At 9-7, Chan stepped forward and cut off a volley, driving it home to seal the upset and silence the fairytale ending. Joint and Chan had won the match. The much-anticipated comeback, at least in doubles, ended with a stumble at the line.
The US Tennis Association later confirmed the sisters would not be available for comment. The noise from the stands, the standing ovations, and the lingering glances back at the court said enough.
Whispers of more to come will not fade quickly. ESPN commentator Caroline Wozniacki has already suggested she believes Serena wants to return to singles next year. If that happens, Friday night will feel less like a goodbye and more like a prologue.
Tsitsipas breaks new ground, Tiafoe cruises
Away from the Williams spotlight, Stefanos Tsitsipas quietly ticked off a career milestone of his own. The Greek star, revitalised and resilient, shook off a poor start to defeat Czech 18th seed Jiri Lehecka 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 and reach the US Open fourth round for the first time.
After dropping the opening set, Tsitsipas flipped the match on its head with a dominant second, then held his nerve in a tight third-set tie-break before racing through the fourth. It was the kind of win that suggests he is finally learning how to manage the grind of New York.
American 11th seed Frances Tiafoe needed no such escape. He handled Valentin Vacherot with authority, 6-4 6-2 6-4, a clean, controlled performance that keeps home hopes burning deep into the first week.
On a night when one era edged closer to its final chapter, others quietly wrote new ones.
