The 42

SERENA AND VENUS Williams electrified Arthur Ashe Stadium but fell to Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint in three thrilling sets in their return to the US Open women’s doubles.

The superstar sisters, whose 14 Grand Slam doubles titles include two US Opens, rallied from a break-down in the third set and led the deciding 10-point tiebreaker 5-0 but fell 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/7).

Venus (46) and Serena (44) hadn’t played Grand Slam doubles since the 2022 US Open and last won a title together at Roland Garros in 2018.

They showed flashes of their brilliant best, Serena proving particularly dangerous patrolling the net but struggling with her serve.

After recovering from losing the first set, they levelled the match in the second-set tiebreaker.

They belted no fewer than 20 winners in the set, holding serve throughout and tied up the match when Joint smacked an overhead long to roars from the crowd.

Chan and Joint regrouped to seize a 4-2 lead in the third. The sisters rallied, but fell short at the finish line as Taiwan’s Chan and Joint fought back superbly to clinch the victory.

For Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion considered by many to be tennis’s greatest women’s player, it was her first return to the courts of Flushing Meadows since then.

The 44-year-old had returned to major singles play as a Wimbledon wild card four years after “evolving away” from the game.

At the All-England club, she lost to Joint in a Centre Court clash that captured the imagination of both diehard and casual tennis fans.

Even that experience didn’t prepare Joint for the atmosphere on the cavernous Ashe Stadium.

The sisters received a thunderous ovation when they took court, all business in understated white outfits.

Every blistering volley and overhead smash from the Americans received raucous cheers, and when they sprinted to the lead in the decisive 10-point tiebreaker the noise was deafening

“The atmosphere was surreal,” Joint said. “Being able to play against such legends of the game is super special.”

Meanwhile, former top-five player Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who has struggled in recent years, upset 18th-seeded Jiri Lehecka Friday to reach the US Open fourth round for the first time.

Tsitsipas fired four times as many aces as his Czech opponent, closing the match with a service winner to defeat the Czech 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.

Tsitsipas saluted the crowd, saying “you carried me through this match” after an on-court interviewer referenced vocal support from New York’s sizeable Greek-American population.

The win follows Tsitsipas’ first-round upset of rising star Arthur Fils and places the Greek in the round of 16, his furthest appearance in a Grand Slam in more than two years.

After the two men split the first two sets, the third-set tiebreaker proved decisive, with Tsitsipas serving two aces in a row, while Lehecka, a quarter-finalist in New York last year, double faulted and misfired ground strokes.

Tsitsipas had 34 winners in all to Lehecka’s 22, while committing 30 unforced errors compared with 41 for the Czech player.

Tsitsipas said he was pain-free after back problems derailed his 2025 campaign.

“This season might not have been the best that I’ve had, but at least I wake up every single day, I’m happy that I don’t have any pain, and I know I can go practice without any uncertainty of how my body is going to respond,” he said.

A former two-time Grand Slam finalist, Tsitsipas, 28, was a mainstay of the top 10 in the first part of the 2020s after bursting on the scene as an heir apparent to tennis greats Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

But he has been among the players eclipsed by the rise of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner. Besides injuries, Tsitsipas has also grappled with a complicated relationship with his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, who has also worked as his coach.

In June, Tsitsipas parted ways with Apostolos as coach, describing the move as permanent. He is now working with Thomas Perrin and Patrick Mouratoglou.

“I don’t know if it is at the right time, but it is happening,” Tsitsipas said. “In Greece, we have a saying, ‘It’s better late than never,’ so I go by that.” 

© AFP 202 

Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.