NEW YORK (AP) — Serena and Venus Williams are out of the U.S. Open women's doubles after losing in a match tiebreaker.
The sisters blew a 5-0 lead in the 10-point tiebreaker and lost 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) on Friday night to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint.
It was the first U.S. Open match since 2022 at the Grand Slam tournament the sisters won twice. They pulled out the second set in a tiebreaker, battled back from 4-1 down in the third set to tie it,
but then faltered late.
Serena came back to tennis this year at 44. Venus has continued to play on tour at 46.
Perhaps it was their ages, could have been Serena's long layoff, or maybe it was nerves. But both double-faulted during the tiebreaker after they had played so brilliantly late in the third set and then in the first few points of the tiebreaker.
Serena ended up losing to Joint for the second time this summer. She fell to the Australian in three sets at Wimbledon in her return to singles play, and she and Venus then had to pull out of their doubles match after Serena hurt her knee.
That delayed their return until New York, where they won in 1999 and 2009 and are now 27-8 in their 10 appearances.
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