Despite the on-Court chemistry between Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, the couple could not hold top seed Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula on an entertaining first day of the US Open Mixed Doubles event.
The couple with former US open champions received a huge cheer from the busy Arthur Ashe Stadium as they went out, smiling and joking their way through their first round meeting at the renewed and divided mixed event.
But draper and pegula turned out too strong and won 4-2, 4-2 after breaking early in both sets in the trunks. Raducanu resisted a barrier of pressure on serving at 3-2 in the second set that falls 15-40 before whipping in two fine serve before taking the game at the crucial point.
The fight improved in quality as the brand new mating settled in, but it was draper and pegula that formed a smoother partnership. The British in particular was imperial welcoming and moving excellently around the field and sealing the match with a winner of the line Forehand.
The top seeds continued to move evenly through the draw and beat Mirra Andreva and Daniil Medvedev 4-1, 4-1 later on Tuesday after the latter two sent 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 double players, including defense champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori-the only established mixed double pair in the draw-expressed a sense of injustice for how the specialists were excluded in favor of single stars.
But the opening round for matches seemed well received by the New York quantity. Spectators flowed to the two show courts, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, in their jumps and loud backed home favorites, including Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka.
And some pairings – despite the lack of preparation time – quickly managed to gelate on the field. Lorenzo Musetti and Caty McNally, the latter a late replacement for cincinnati finalist Jasmine Paolini, overcome Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils and won 5-3, 4-2. Two-time grand slam doubles finalist McNally only got the call to play on Sunday night, but the couple saw a real strength together.
Karolina Muchova’s skill and courts combined brilliantly with Andrey Rublev’s firepower as they dumped Williams and Opelka, winning 4-2, 5-4 in their openers, and third seeds Iga Swatek-less than 24 hours on from her triumph in Cincinnati and Casper Ruud demanded just 39 minutes to see Madison Key’s and Franes 4-2, 2-. 4-1. The third seeds then beat McNally and Musetti to become the first team into the last four.
But the specialists all showed how it was done: Defense Masters Errani and Vavassori took 40 minutes to send other seeds Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz and won 4-2, 4-2. “We played for the double teams that couldn’t be here,” Vavassori said afterwards.
They then overwhelmed a lively challenge from the improved team of Mailova and Rubev to book their place in the semi-finals and win 4-1, 5-4 (7-4), shouting about “Forza!” Indicates how important this was to the couple.
Later in the day, women doubles # 1 Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton The Fourth Seeds Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune 4-2, 5-4 (7-2) and reserved a quarterfinals against the alternative couple of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison who replaced Jannik Sinner and Katerina Siniakova. In the last quarterfinals of Collins and Harrison, Townsend and Shelton beat 4-1, 5-4 (7-2).
The semi -finals and the final follow Wednesday night. The fast and extremely condensed format has given players some time to recover between matches, with Andreeva and Medvedev only given approx. 10 minutes to cool off between their first round and quarterfinals.