Venus and Serena Williams made their highly anticipated return to the US Open doubles court Friday night, marking their first appearance together at the tournament in four years. The legendary sisters took the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium to a large ovation from the crowd.
Their opponents were Taiwan's Chan Hao-ching and Australia's Maya Joint. Chan and Joint secured the first set with a 6-3 victory. The Williams sisters responded in the second set, forcing a tie-breaker which they eventually won to keep the match alive.
The decisive third set saw the Williams sisters take an early 5-0 lead. However, Chan and Joint mounted a comeback, ultimately winning the tie-breaker 10-7 to take the match. The final score was 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(10) in a contest that lasted just over three hours.
Despite the loss, the match demonstrated that the veteran pair remains a competitive force. Serena Williams had been sidelined by injury and had withdrawn from Wimbledon earlier in the summer. She had previously called the anti-doping process "unprofessional" ahead of her potential Wimbledon return.
