Hao-Ching "Angel" Chan should have been thrilled to reach the US Open mixed doubles final for the second time in three years. Even more so because Chan and her partner Michael Venus had knocked off the reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champions, snapping their opponent’s 13-match winning streak and denying them an opportunity to become the first pair to win three consecutive major mixed titles since Billie Jean King and Owen Davidson in 1967.
It was the type of win that really gets the competitive juices flowing.
Except for one thing: Chan had to take out her sister and doubles partner, Latisha Chan, to do it.
“It was always going to be a very awkward match for Angel,” Venus told USOpen.org after their 7-6, 7-5 victory over Chan and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Wednesday. “I’ve played against close friends, but never played against a sibling. I can’t even imagine what it was like playing against one, let alone in the semifinals of a Grand Slam.”
Chan just shakes her head as Venus speaks. She knows all about it. The win was big, but the celebration was muted.
There is some justice in the result, however—Angel lost to Latisha the last time they faced each other in mixed. She can’t even remember how many times she’s faced her sister (“Three times? Four times?”), but she does know that her sister is the one with all the Grand Slam hardware in the family.
After the pair took a break from playing doubles together in 2017, Latisha paired up with Martina Hingis and won the US Open women’s double title in 2017. Since then, she has added three mixed titles with Dodig to her trophy case.
Angel, who goes by Hao-Ching in Taiwan where she lives with her sister in the off-season, hasn’t been so lucky. She has played three major finals—two in mixed and one in women’s doubles—and lost all three.
Her sister had a message for her at the net after their match on Wednesday.
“She told me to win this title,” Angel said. “They won two Grand Slams in a row, it’s already not easy—now we just try to fight for our first one.”
Angel may have taken her revenge on Latisha in the semifinals in New York, but off-court they remain inseparable. Even when they stopped playing doubles together for a few seasons, they never really parted ways. They room together on the road, and basically stay attached at the hip.
That explains why they have had so much success together in 2019 after reuniting on court this season. The pair have gone 31-13 with three titles. They lost in the second round in the women's doubles draw in New York, but they are currently fourth in the WTA’s Race to Shenzhen, the standings for the tour’s prestigious season-ending championships, which take place at the end of October in China.
“We spend 24 hours together because we sleep in the same room in the hotel,” Chan said. “We eat together, we shop together, so everything is together—it’s nice. It has been like this even when we were not playing together.”
Chan and Venus will face Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the defending champs, in Saturday’s final. To claim the trophy, they’ll have to stop another duo from reaching an historic milestone. Two-time defending US Open mixed doubles champion Murray is bidding to become the first man to win three consecutive mixed titles at the US Open since 1960.
Chan and Venus lost to Murray and Hingis in the US Open final in 2017, but they feel the experience of playing in cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time will help them as they take their second crack at mixed doubles Grand Slam glory.
They hope they can change their fortunes on Saturday. If they do, there will be no hard feelings, and both Chan sisters will be celebrating.
