Taiwanese player Zhan Haoqing and Australian Maya Joint stunned tennis fans by defeating the legendary Williams sisters 6-3, 6-7(6-8), 7-6(10-7) in the 2026 US Open women's doubles first round on September 4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City [1, 2, 3]. The match lasted over three hours and featured a dramatic super tiebreak comeback by Zhan and Joint, rallying from 0-5 down to take the final tiebreak 10-7, sealing their victory and advancing to the second round [1, 4, 5].
The Williams sisters' return to the doubles court marked their first match together since 2022 and drew a near-capacity crowd of 23,000 to 24,000 spectators to Arthur Ashe Stadium's night session, generating an electrifying atmosphere for the iconic players' reunion [1, 4, 6]. Venus Williams, 46, and Serena Williams, 44, are 14-time Grand Slam women's doubles champions and three-time Olympic gold medalists together [4, 7, 5].
Zhan, seeded 14th in the tournament with Joint, celebrated the victory as a major milestone in her career, having faced a first-round exit the previous year. She previously reached the US Open doubles semifinals in 2024 partnering with Veronika Kudermetova [4, 8, 9]. “能夠在7年後再次站上美國公開賽的中央球場比賽，對她來說並不容易，也很開心可以跟兩位網壇影響力最深遠的選手交手，本身就已經是非常大的榮幸,” Zhan said, calling it a great honor to compete and defeat the legendary duo with support from her family and fans [10, 9]. The atmosphere was “超現實” (surreal), Maya Joint said, calling the match against the tennis legends truly meaningful [11].
In the second round, Zhan and Joint will face the team of Nicole Fossa Huergo from Argentina and Tamara Korpatsch from Germany [4, 5]. Should they advance further, a potential matchup looms against Taiwanese top doubles player Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko, setting up an all-Taiwan clash [4, 6].
The featured night match at Arthur Ashe Stadium confirmed the growing stature of Zhan and Joint in the doubles field and delivered one of the tournament’s most thrilling contests.
