'Kinda chic': Williams sisters set to launch US Open doubles bid, Alcaraz faces Wu

[p]The legendary sisters' first doubles foray at Flushing Meadows in four years is sure to ignite the Arthur Ashe Stadium fans, who will also be treated to defending champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alcaraz-garfia-carlos/UkhgIFEq/"]Carlos Alcaraz[/a] and American hopes [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Jessica Pegula[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shelton-ben/QNuG0Gzb/"]Ben Shelton[/a] as they vie for fourth-round berths.[/p][p]Women's defending champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Aryna Sabalenka[/a] headlines the action on Louis Armstrong Stadium, continuing her quest to cap an erratic year with a third straight US Open title.[/p][embed guid="efa5b76b-0097-4996-8fcb-5bb201753ebd" url="https://x.com/SchedulesTennis/status/2095580780969787845" social-type="twitter" /][p]The last woman to win three in a row was [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-serena/ttsu68nH/"]Serena Williams[/a], who returned from a near four-year absence to play at Wimbledon. A knee injury suffered in singles there delayed her plans to play doubles with Venus, who is now eager to see what they can do.[/p][p][b]"I definitely will be focused on that and super excited about it,"[/b] the elder Williams sister said after losing her singles opener in New York.[/p][p]AFP Sport looks at three matches to watch on Day 6 of the US Open:[/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/alcaraz-garfia-c-UkhgIFEq/wu-y-8ASNvPfK/?mid=OIzAPJqf"]Wu Yibing vs Carlos Alcaraz[/a][/h2][p][b]Alcaraz leads head to head 1-0[/b][/p][p]Coming back from a four-month injury layoff, Alcaraz has found that it's not only his forehand that got a little rusty. The 23-year-old admitted that poor decision making contributed when he dropped the first set in what proved a four-set second-round win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/faria-jaime/ETojuYQP/"]Jaime Faria[/a], an early miss on a break chance prompting him to rush things too much.[/p][p][b]"I just needed to play patient, to play long rallies, three, four, five shots, and then go for it,"[/b] he said, but added the extra time on court was in fact a good test of his healed wrist and overall fitness.[/p][embed guid="86853332-abc7-4a6b-88d3-d9af5eeacf0a" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz6jq9Ebvuc" social-type="youtube" /][p]Alcaraz, who won his seventh Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, can expect an aggressive approach from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wu-yibing/8ASNvPfK/"]Wu[/a], the 2017 US Open boys' champion. Wu's rise through the senior ranks has been disrupted by injury, but the 113th-ranked player looked sharp in straight-set wins in his first two matches.[/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/williams-s-ttsu68nH/williams-v-M7dojKaa/?mid=Ghw1uDvK"]Serena Williams/Venus Williams vs Chan Hao-Ching/Maya Joint[/a][/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-venus/M7dojKaa/"]Venus[/a] and Serena Williams won two of their 14 Grand Slam doubles titles at the US Open, where they first teamed up in 1997.[/p][p][b]Their first doubles appearance together in a major since the 2022 US Open comes after 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena returned from almost four years away from professional tennis to play at Wimbledon.[/b][/p][p]She suffered a knee injury in a first-round singles loss to Joint and had to scrap plans to play doubles with Venus at the All England Club.[/p][p]The sisters played together on a wildcard in Cincinnati last month, falling in the first round to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stearns-peyton/YsJXLo1O/"]Payton Stearns[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kostyuk-marta/8CZqQdSa/"]Marta Kostyuk[/a].[/p][embed guid="1e146db6-7f15-435a-8fd4-cc42da650499" url="https://x.com/usopen/status/2092615481974820889" social-type="twitter" /][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/rakhimova-k-boU2UKtN/sabalenka-a-vyhksgUB/?mid=8UAQD7Si"]Aryna Sabalenka vs Kamilla Rakhimova[/a][/h2][p][b]Sabalenka leads head to head 3-0[/b][/p][p]World number one Aryna Sabalenka's season hit the skids after back-to-back titles at Indian Wells and Miami. But the two-time defending champion has been red-hot in her first two matches at Flushing Meadows, including a 53-minute 6-1, 6-1 second-round victory over qualifier [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/iatcenko-polina/ADlgOFQL/"]Polina Iatcenko[/a].[/p][p][b]She'll try to keep up the pace in what promises to be a tougher test against Uzbekistan's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rakhimova-kamilla/boU2UKtN/"]Rakhimova[/a], who looked impressive herself in a 6-3, 6-0 second-round win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/selekhmeteva-oksana/v7vDWRvO/"]Oksana Selekhmeteva[/a]. [/b][/p][p]In the first round, she upset two-time Grand Slam singles champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/krejcikova-barbora/2FyACZYi/"]Barbora Krejcikova[/a], finally putting the win away on her seventh match point.[/p][infobox id="3dc51b3a-107f-482b-9173-a97d347ef1b3" /]