Williams sisters' US Open return becomes celebration despite first-round exit

NEW YORK: Four years after what seemed like their final bow, Serena and Venus Williams transformed a first-round US Open doubles defeat into a celebration of tennis in front of 23,000 adoring fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday. Australia’s Maya Joint and Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching emerged with a 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(10-7) win, but for much of the contest the score felt irrelevant as fans roared at every Williams winner and fell into virtual silence at every point in between. Serena, 44, walked onto court wearing a shiny customized bomber jacket decorated with patches marking her US Open singles and doubles triumphs. Her 46-year-old sister stodd alongside, the pair carrying matching pink bags. No. 3 Jessica Pegula rallies from slow start to reach US Open fourth round 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. Joint and Chan, the 14th seeds, weathered the hostile atmosphere to take the opening set, but the Williams sisters hit back in the second, riding the crowd’s energy to forc