Despite the on-court chemistry between Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, the pair could not hold off top seeds Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula on an entertaining first day of the US Open mixed doubles event.
The pair of former US Open champions received a huge cheer from the busy Arthur Ashe Stadium as they walked out, and smiled and joked their way through their first-round encounter at the revamped and divisive mixed event.
But Draper and Pegula proved too strong, winning 4-2, 4-2 after breaking early in both sets in the truncated format. Raducanu withstood a barrage of pressure on serve at 3-2 in the second set, falling 15-40 down before whipping in two fine serves, before taking the game on the deciding point.
The match improved in quality as the brand-new pairings settled in, but it was Draper and Pegula who formed a smoother partnership. The Brit in particular was imperious on serve and moved superbly around the court, sealing the match with a down-the-line forehand winner.
The top seeds continued to move smoothly through the draw, beating Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev 4-1, 4-1 later on Tuesday after the latter two dispatched Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic 4-2, 5-3 in the final round-of-16 match.
The new-look event has been controversial since its inception, with doubles players including defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori – the only established mixed doubles pair in the draw – voicing a sense of injustice at how the specialists were excluded in favour of singles stars.
But the opening round of matches seemed well-received by the New York crowd. Spectators flocked to the two show courts, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, in their droves, and loudly backed home favourites including Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka.
And some pairings – despite the lack of preparation time – managed to quickly gel on court. Lorenzo Musetti and Caty McNally, the latter a late replacement for Cincinnati finalist Jasmine Paolini, overcame Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils, winning 5-3, 4-2. Two-time grand slam doubles finalist McNally only got the call-up to play on Sunday evening but the pair looked a real force together.
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Karolina Muchova’s deftness and court craft combined brilliantly with Andrey Rublev’s firepower as they dumped out Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka, winning 4-2, 5-4 in their opener, and third seeds Iga Swiatek – less than 24 hours on from her triumph in Cincinnati – and Casper Ruud required just 39 minutes to see off Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe 4-2, 4-1. The third seeds then beat McNally and Musetti to become the first team into the last four.
But the specialists showed everyone how it was done: defending champions Errani and Vavassori took 40 minutes to dispatch second seeds Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, winning 4-2, 4-2. “We were playing for the doubles teams who could not be here,” Vavassori said afterwards.
They then overwhelmed a spirited challenge from the improving team of Muchova and Rublev to book their place in the semi-finals, winning 4-1, 5-4(7-4), with shouts of “forza!” indicating just how important this was to the pair.
Later in the day women’s doubles No 1 Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton saw off the fourth seeds Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune 4-2, 5-4(7-2), booking a quarter-final against the alternate pair of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison, who replaced Jannik Sinner and Katerina Siniakova.
The final quarter-final will conclude later on Tuesday, with the semi-finals and final to follow on Wednesday night. The fast-paced and extremely condensed format has given players little time to recover between matches, with Andreeva and Medvedev only given around 10 minutes to cool off between their first round and quarter-final.
