NEW YORK — Four years after they last took the court together in New York, Serena and Venus Williams returned to the US Open as a doubles team on Friday evening and took part in one of the most compelling matches of the tournament.
Most of the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd left disappointed by the result.
Still, fans couldn’t be disappointed by the hard-fought, back-and-forth match — a three-hour classic decided by a super tiebreak. Chan Hao-Ching and Maya Joint ultimately pulled it out 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 [7] to advance to the second round, spoiling what would have been a momentous comeback for the 14-time Grand Slam doubles champions.
After a relatively straightforward first set for Chan and Joint, Venus and Serena gave the New York crowd reason to get loud with a spirited second-set effort.
Both teams held serve through the first 12 games, and it remained even through the first half of the tiebreak. A Serena backhand volley winner gave the Williamses the 5-3 advantage, and after Chan responded with a winner at net, Venus’ backhand winner gave them their second set point. An unreturned Joint serve cut it to 6-5, before Serena double-faulted on the fourth set point.
Two points later, on the fifth set point, Joint hit a forehand long to give them the set and ensure that it would be another long night in Ashe.
“I think the crowd is pretty much what we expected,” Joint said of the fervent pro-Williams crowd. “We expected a full stadium, and everyone cheering them, and it was pretty much that. But the atmosphere is super special. You’re not really going to get that again with many other players.”
Though Serena and Venus carried all the momentum into the decider, Joint and Chan jumped out to a 4-1 lead. The Americans won the next three games to tie it, and four consecutive holds brought it to a super tiebreak.
Venus and Serena got halfway to the finish line in a hurry, taking a 5-0 lead, before costly errors doomed their comeback. Serena and Venus hit consecutive shots into the net, and at 6-3 Venus double faulted.
Joint and Chan would win six of the next seven points, and Chan’s volley winner at 9-7 clinched a match that will likely go down in history.
“I felt relieved,” Joint said of how she felt after the match. “I was very nervous. I was very stressed during the match, especially the second and third sets. Especially at the net, my movement, I felt like I wasn’t really doing anything, and I didn’t go for a volley. I was hesitant.
“I felt very, very relieved when it was over.”
Chan credited Venus and Serena for making critical adjustments after the first set to get back into the match.
“I think we started very aggressive in the first set,” she said, “and even with the return game, we tried to be aggressive — also at the net. And I think they switched something. They started to go [down the] line more in the second set.”
It’s the second super-tiebreak loss for Serena and Venus in as many matches since reuniting their doubles partnership on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. In their first match together, in Cincinnati last month, Venus and Serena lost to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns 6-2, 1-6, [10-8].
Chan and Joint will play unseeded Tamara Korpatsch and Nicole Fossa Huergo in the second round.