Their breakthrough came in June 2016, when Hughes and Claes narrowly lost to Olympians April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings with a score of 21–17, 18–21, 15–17 in the third round of the $75K AVP San Francisco Open. Despite the loss, they eventually made it to the finals of the double-elimination tournament where they were defeated once again by A. Ross and Walsh Jennings. Hughes and Claes were given a wild card entry into the main draw of the $400K Klagenfurt Major a month later, where they upset the top-seeded German team of Kira Walkenhorst and Laura Ludwig in the group stage, eventually finishing 17th; Walkenhorst and Ludwig would go on to win gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics a few weeks later.