US Open: Serena and Venus Williams fall in first-round thriller vs. Maya Joint and Hao-ching Chan

The Williams sisters will be a one-off show at the US Open this year. That doesn't mean it wasn't a fun time for a crowd that hadn't seen Venus and Serena team up in four years.

The 14-time Grand Slam doubles champions lost their first-round match in the women's doubles event on Friday, falling 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 in a three-hour thriller to the No. 14 seeded pair of Maya Joint and Hao-ching Chan.

With Serena not participating in the singles draw and Venus losing in the first round to Sofia Kenin , they have no more matches to play at Flushing Meadows. Serena also participated in the mixed doubles event last week, winning and losing a match alongside Carlos Alcaraz .

Joint and Chan will face Nicole Fossa Huergo and Tamara Korpatsch in the second round.

Obviously, the Williams sisters didn't display the form that won them two doubles titles at the US Open in 1999 and 2009, not with Venus at 46 years old and Serena at 44 and playing competitive tennis for only the past three months. That didn't mean they didn't have their moments. They built momentum as the match progressed and held a 5-0 lead in the decisive tiebreak, only for Joint and Chan to charge back in the face of a crowd heavily against them.

It was the kind of atmosphere we haven't seen in a Grand Slam doubles match in years. The 20-year-old Joint, who also beat Serena in the lone singles match of her comeback, appreciated the opportunity.

"[Serena's] an idol of mine, both of them. I looked up to them growing up," Joint said in her post-match interview . "Just to be able to play them twice is amazing."

Serena struggled early, rarely landing her first serve and operating a step behind the pace of competition. She was broken on both of her service games in the first set, giving the seeded pair the early advantage.

The match got more competitive in the second set, with the teams remaining on serve all the way to the tiebreak, when the Williams sisters finally found the momentum they needed.

The two teams traded breaks in a thrilling third set, all the way up to Joint and Chan's comeback in the tiebreak. Venus in particular looked like the best player at the court for the final two sets.

Venus and Serena reportedly declined to speak with reporters after the match.

With the loss, the Williams sisters are now a combined 4-24 in singles and doubles action in 2026, numbers that don't count the US Open mixed doubles event and its significantly different rules. Joint is responsible for two of those losses, having beat Serena in the lone singles match of her much-talked about comeback.

The sisters lost their only other doubles match together, falling 2-6, 6-1, 10-8 to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns in the first round of Cincinnati last month.

Both sisters still playing is a testament to their love of tennis and competition, but the sport hasn't loved them back recently. Venus has lost 15 straight matches since opening her comeback last year with a win over Stearns, while Serena's return has been a start-and-stop affair due to a knee issue sustained in her singles match against Joint. Both are dependent on receiving wild-cards from tournaments looking for a draw, which isn't going to change anytime soon based on the reception they're still getting.

It remains to be seen where either player goes from here, with neither having anything to prove after their legendary careers. Serena has at least said she intends to play singles again, with the tournament TBD.

Even in a loss, however, they showed they can still produce the kind of moments their fans are looking for.