Serena and Venus Williams fell to defeat to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-Ching in a heart-breaking US Open women's doubles first-round clash.
In a fight to the finish, the Williams sisters rallied to force a third set tie-breaker in which they blew a 5-0 lead before falling to Joint and Chan 6-3 6-7 (8-6) 7-6 (10-7) in three hours and two minutes.
The legendary sister act were playing their first Grand Slam together since the 2022 US Open, and 27 years after they first won the title.
The comeback, which Serena said was at the suggestion of her daughter, carried the weight of more than two decades: 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, two US Open crowns, three Olympic gold medals and another 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them.
But it ended up being quite the summer for Joint, the 20-year-old Australian, who defeated Serena on Centre Court at Wimbledon in the women's singles before facing her in front of 23,000 adoring fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night.
"Being able to play against such legends of the game is super special," said Joint on court.
"I'm lost for words to think of it," Joint continued. "She's my idol, both of them. I grew up in Michigan so I always looked up to them. Being able to play them twice is amazing."
It was certainly an occasion worthy of the wild cards Serena, 44, and 46-year-old Venus were given as their every winner was cheered to the rafters of a packed stadium.
And there could be more to come from the 23-time Grand Slam champion after ESPN commentator Caroline Wozniacki revealed she believes Serena wants to return to singles next year.
They might have a combined age of 90 but the Williams' rolled back the years at times, and all of Ashe was on its feet when a penetrating Venus volley was put away by Serena's swinging winner.
But two breaks of Serena's serve - which had looked in good shape at Wimbledon and in her mixed doubles run-out with Carlos Alcaraz last week - cost them the first set.
They hit back in the second set tie-break, finally converting a fifth set point when a Joint overhead floated long.
The decider also rumbled into a tie-break, the first time the duo had been past 5-5 in a third set since 2001.
But they stumbled badly in sight of the finishing line and a Chan volley ended the much-anticipated comeback.
The US Tennis Association said the sisters would not be available for comment following their defeat.
Revitalised Stefanos Tsitsipas bounced back from a first-set loss to prevail over Czech 18th seed Jiri Lehecka with a 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 victory.
The Greek moved into the fourth round for the first time in his career.
American 11th seed Frances Tiafoe eased past Valentin Vacherot from Monaco 6-4 6-2 6-4.
Ben Shelton, a 2023 US Open semi-finalist, has set up a clash against Tsitsipas after beating Denis Shapovalov in four sets in the third round.
Despite a number of unforced errors, the American men's singles No 1 won 7-6 (3) 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-4 in three hours and 23 minutes, at one point unleashing a 147mph serve down the middle.
The 23-year-old will face the Greek on Sunday.
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