New York (AFP) – The Czech team of Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik won the US Open mixed doubles Wednesday, saving two match points in a nervy semi-final and then pulling through in a tight final. The pair survived a second-set pummeling in the championship decider in New York to edge Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 6-3, 1-6, 10-6. Mensik, a singles semi-finalist at this year’s French Open, sealed the triumph with a searing ace to the backhand corner.
Another Mensik ace saved one of two match points earlier in the evening when the Czech pair edged the Russians Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev, 5-4, 3-5, 11-9. The back-to-back wins secured the first Grand Slam title for both Mensik and Muchova, who lost a heartbreaking Wimbledon singles final in July in three sets to fellow Czech, Linda Noskova.
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“At the end the matching outfits made the difference for us,” Muchova quipped during the trophy presentation, referencing the white and maroon kit worn by the team. The mixed doubles event is in its second year with a convention-busting format which features shortened sets and multiple matches played the same day.
The competition is scheduled before the main US Open to attract singles stars who usually avoid Grand Slam doubles events to conserve energy for the concluding matches of the biggest events. The tournament’s star teams—the cross-generational partnership of Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka—did not make it through the event’s preliminary rounds.
That left open a Grand Slam opportunity for some of the game’s most accomplished non-household names to nab a precious major title, resulting in two semifinals and a final that all went the distance. Earlier, Cobolli and Bencic beat the married team of Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Gael Monfils of France in a hard-fought marathon, 4-5, 4-1, 10-5. The result ended the prospects for a fairytale finale to the career of the acrobatic Monfils, who has said 2026 will be his last season.
© 2024 AFP
