NEW YORK — A familiar roar filled Arthur Ashe Stadium, one that had been a soundtrack to so many U.S. Opens before this.

For the first time in four years on Friday night, Venus and Serena Williams took the court at Flushing Meadows together, renewing a prolific pairing that had long dominated the doubles circuit.

An admiring Ashe crowd erupted as the sisters emerged from the tunnel, surely satisfied to simply witness two all-time greats making an unexpected return to prime time.

They were treated to so much more.

In a back-and-forth battle that lasted more than three hours, Venus and Serena nearly completed an incredible comeback against Maya Joint and Hao-Ching Chan, only to fall in the end, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7).

The final set came down to a first-to-10 tiebreak, but after winning the first five points, the Williamses managed only to take two more.

It made for an unceremonious ending to electric showing by Venus, 46, and Serena, 44, whose at-times-vintage performance delivered perhaps the biggest highlight of this US Open thus far.

“Being able to play against such legends of the game is super special,” Joint said afterward.

The Williams sisters have won 14 major doubles titles together, including twice at the Open (1999 and 2009).

But Friday marked only the second time they’ve competed together since Serena — who stepped away from professional tennis in 2022 — made an unexpected return to the sport this summer.

Joint and Chan, meanwhile, are the No. 14 seed in this doubles tournament.

The Williamses’ rust was evident during a slow start Friday. They dropped three of the first four games and, after tying the opening set 3-3, lost the final three games, too.

Serena repeatedly sent her returns long. There were a few throwback moments — including ferocious spikes at the net by both of the sisters — but the Joint-Chan duo won the first set convincingly.

Venus and Serena found their rhythm in the second set.

The sisters held serve throughout the second set, taking all six of those games, often with hard-fought rallies that ended with powerful winners.

But they repeatedly failed to break Joint or Chan. Their best opportunity came in the ninth game when, leading 5-4, Venus and Serena faced two separate break points.

However, Joint drilled an ace to stave off defeat on the first of those break points. Repeated errors by the Williams sisters — some forced, some unforced — squandered the second of those chances and resulted in Joint and Chan taking the game.

The second set went to a first-to-seven tiebreak, and after going up 6-4, the Williamses wasted two more break points.

But the sisters stayed strong, winning the final two points, much to the delight of the packed Ashe crowd that erupted as Joint’s return sailed out of bounds for the clincher.

That set up an even more dramatic third set.

Chan and Joint finally broke the sisters in the fourth game, then held serve in the fifth to go up 4-1.

Venus and Serena responded by winning three straight games, tying the decisive set at 4-4. They then took a 40-15 lead in the ninth game, but Venus and Serena went 0 for 3 on break points in that pivotal game, which Joint and Chan went on to win.

It ultimately came down to another tie break, this one a first-to-10.

The Williams sisters seemed poised to win it after claiming the first five points, but it slowly unraveled from there.

Their lead was trimmed to 6-5 when a long Venus return barely landed out of bounds. Three points later, Serena committed a double fault, putting them behind 8-6.

Following comeback after comeback, that finally proved to be too much to overcome. The Williamses lost 10 of the final 12 points.

The night still ended with smiles from Venus and Serena, likely knowing they delivered an exhilarating night in Queens that nobody could have envisioned.

Especially not four years ago.

Most expected the 2022 US Open to be Serena’s swansong. Ahead of that tournament, Serena — a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion — said she would be “evolving away” from tennis, and her three rounds at Flushing Meadows that year functioned as something of a farewell tour.

That was also the last time she played doubles with Venus at Flushing Meadows. They are now 27-8 in the doubles tournament in Queens.

Having never officially retired, Serena returned to the WTA Tour this summer, including playing in the singles tournament at Wimbledon, where she lost in three sets to Joint, a 20-year-old Australian.

Serena suffered a knee injury during that defeat, forcing her to withdraw from the Wimbledon doubles tournament, where she had planned to play with her sister.

And while Serena has not yet returned to the singles circuit — including sitting out at the US Open — she has played doubles multiple times since the injury.

That included a first-round loss with Venus at the Cincinnati Open last month, as well as splitting a pair of matches while teamed up with Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open mixed doubles tournament last week.

“I never expected to be back on this court, so it’s just a really cool moment,” Serena, a six-time Open singles winner, said after her first match with Alcaraz at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I never thought this would happen.”

It happened again on Friday night — in even grander fashion.

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