U.S. Open tennis: Venus and Serena Williams eliminated in first doubles match

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Venus and Serena Williams were knocked out in the first round of the U.S. Open Women's Doubles tournament Thursday, falling to Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova of Czechia.

Venus, 42, and Serena, 40, played their first major doubles set together since 2018 on Thursday night, but the pair who have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, had their on-court reunion spoiled by the 37-year-old Hradecka and the 17-year-old Noskova, who were playing in their first tournament together.

"I'm still in shock that we won because we played the first time with each other. I think we did a very good job and I'm so sorry for you that we beat them, but we are so happy we did it," Hradecka said in an interview after the match addressing the crowd.

The Czech doubles team beat the Williams sisters in straight sets 7-6 (5), 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

The Williams sisters failed to execute on two set points after leading the first set 5-4, allowing Hradecka and Noskova to work their way back and force a tiebreaker.

Venus and Serena took a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker but their momentum was halted by a double fault from Serena and the Czechs took advantage of the opportunity by winning the final four points including a backhand down the line by Hradecka to close out the set.

The second set saw the Williams sisters quickly fall into a 3-0 hole but they managed to fight back to win three of the next four sets and ultimately tie the set at 4-4.

A comeback was not in the cards, however, as Hradecka closed out the match with a backhand volley.

Thursday night brought the same amount of fanfare that has followed Serena during her singles run as she has said this will be her final tournament before she plans to "move on" from tennis.

A video tribute highlighting the sisters' accomplishments in doubles was played before their match and the crowd was packed with celebrities including tennis champion Billie Jean King, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Serena will take on Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia in the third round of the singles tournament on Friday.