Serena and Venus Williams crashed out of the US Open women’s doubles event after blowing up a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaks to lose to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint in the first round of the season-ending Grand Slam which the sisters have won twice as a team.

Serena made a return to tennis this year at the age of 44 while elder sister Venus has continued to play on the tour at 46. It was the first US Open match since 2022 for the pair.

The Williams sisters clawed their way back in the final set and the match to force a 10-point match tiebreaker after being down 4-1 at one stage. But in the tiebreaker, they were leading 5-0, before losing the match 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) to Chan and Joint. The momentum the pair had gained in the third set and in the first half of the tiebreaks was squandered when they both double-faulted in the second half of the tiebreaker.

The Williams sisters were supposed to play women’s doubles at Wimbledon earlier this year, but had to pull out after Serena injured her knee in her singles defeat to Joint.

“I think the crowd is pretty much what we expected. We expected a full stadium, everyone cheering for them, which, pretty much was that,” Joint said after the victory over the Williams sisters. “But the atmosphere is something that, yeah, it’s super special. Not really going to get again with many other players.”

The match was played under the bright spotlight of the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the night session, a spot unheard of for first-round doubles matches.

At the Grand Slam held in New York, the Williams sisters had won in 1999 and 2009. Friday night’s defeat brings their record at the season-ending Grand Slam to 27-8 in their 10 appearances.