Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz’s all-star partnership was brought to a premature end as they were beaten in the first round of the revamped US Open mixed doubles.
Two former singles champions at Flushing Meadows, the two 22-year-olds were the big draw in a star-studded event in New York, New York, where both players got hero’s receptions as they stepped onto Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Both showed flashes of their own respective brilliance, but they came up against top seeds Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper in irresistible form, with the American and the Briton progressing 4-2, 4-2.
An immediate break of the Alcaraz serve in the opening game set the tone for Pegula and Draper, who themselves were an unfamiliar pairing after both had seen their initial partners withdraw. In Draper’s case, make that two.
The British men’s No1 was originally slated to play with Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, but she was ruled out through injury, and he turned to the Spaniard Paula Badosa instead. Badosa then withdrew a back injury, and that left Draper scrambling for a partner, until he stumbled upon Pegula, who was herself on the hunt for a new pairing after Tommy Paul pulled out.
Draper was on hot form from the off in the Queens heat, and it was almost impossible to tell that he had not played since his second-round Wimbledon defeat by Marin Cilic.
Draper, a semi-finalist in the men’s singles here last year, was lasering his leftie forehand and showing strong nous at the net alongside his more specialist doubles partner Pegula, who reached the final of this very competition back in 2023 with Austin Krajicek.
Pegula and Draper were showing great cohesion in the early exchanges, targeting Raducanu at times with booming groundstrokes.
Raducanu, who rose to prominence as an 18-year-old champion here back in 2021, refused to back down and played her part as she and Alcaraz got on the scoreboard at 2-1, with the British world No35 holding her serve well under pressure after a shaky start.
Alcaraz was not at his mercurial best in the opening set having just landed from his win at the Cincinnati Open over an ill Jannik Sinner, and that showed as he missed a sitter of a volley at 30-30, before blazing an inside-out forehand wide of the tramlines for Pegula to hold strong and maintain their break-advantage.
Raducanu and Alcaraz continued to battle, with the Spaniard holding serve comfortably to keep the wildcard pair within one, but it was Draper’s blistering form that propelled the No1 seeds to snaring first blood.
That wasn’t before a moment of magic from Raducanu, who drilled a drive-volley through Pegula for a 0-15 lead, but she was outfoxed by her compatriot as Draper spun sublime left-handed forehand around her and down the line to open up two set points.
Indecision off the Alcaraz forehand return converted the second of those, and the people’s favourites had a mountain to climb.
Raducanu showed superb resolve to recover from spurning two game points with a double fault and forehand unforced error to grind out a bruising baseline exchange with Pegula, before Alcaraz did what he does best, stepping in nimbly to knock away a volley winner at sudden-death deuce to eke their noses in front in the second.
Pegula’s delivery and Draper’s dominance at the net were proving tough nuts to crack, and so it proved, but that was not before the point of the whole tournament so far.
Raducanu did superbly to soak up the pressure and power off the Draper forehand as the two slugged it out from the back of the court, before Raducanu looked as though she had given up as a Draper backhand looked certain to zip past her. Alcaraz had other ideas, however, and he darted forwards, flicking a sensational forehand winner down the line.
His work would go in vain, however, with the top seeds levelling the scores, and he would also find his service breached once more, with Draper outdoing him on the return with the five-time Grand Slam champion looking for the sneaky serve and volley.
The break was secured with two loose Raducanu volleys, and it was promptly followed up by a Draper love-hold in double-quick time as he and Alcaraz battered each other with forehands cross-court before the Briton changed tack at the last, blasting one at Raducanu, who could not sort her hands in time.
The British women’s No1 rallied and impressively fought off three match points on her own serve to prolong her stay in the reformed tournament, much to the spectators’ enjoyment, but it was the home favourite Pegula who served the encounter out in style.
A dramatic final game ensued, filled with net chaos, lobs, and the like, including a fourth match point that went astray as Raducanu fired a cross-court winner, but it was Draper, as it had been all afternoon, who did the business, looping in a luscious line winner that sealed the deal and the top seeds’ place in the last eight.
They will face Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Serbian duo Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic in the later game on Arthur Ashe.
In the morning session, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud superbly swept aside Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe and then Caty McNally and Lorenzo Musetti in quick succession, while defending champions and doubles specialists Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori - who vocally opposed the reshuffling of the tournament upon its announcement - looked ominously good on Louis Armstrong, breezing past second seeds Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz.
They then defeated Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev, who had got the better of Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka in their first-round match.
The seeds continued to tumble as Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune were toppled by the all-American wildcards Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, while Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev were decimated by Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison, who stepped in last minute to replace Sinner and his partner Katerina Siniakova.
Collins and Harrison take on Errani and Vavassori in the other semi-final on Wednesday.
