Alcaraz and Raducanu bulldozed by Draper and Pegula in revamped US Open mixed doubles

The Guardian

a day ago

After many long months of discussion and anticipation, the doubles partnership between Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz came and went in the blink of an eye in front of a well‑populated Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. Despite ample smiles and enjoyment on the court, they were bulldozed in a battle of British No 1s by a sharp Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula, who reached the quarter-finals of the revamped mixed‑doubles competition with a 4-2, 4-2 win.
In a draw filled with unusual partnerships, the first bracket of the mixed doubles draw was particularly striking. Draper and Raducanu are childhood friends and they have known each other since the days when they were rising up the national rankings in Britain while dreaming of becoming professional players. When the US Open announced its 'reimagined' mixed‑doubles competition in February, a partnership between them seemed like the most logical option. Instead, they found themselves against each other in the biggest tennis stadium in the world.
Raducanu had played just three doubles tournaments in her entire career and the match started with a reminder of her lack of doubles prowess as she sprayed a backhand drive volley far wide. That first point set the tone for a difficult day on-court as she was continually vulnerable, particularly at the net.
Draper and Alcaraz have similarly competed infrequently on the doubles court, but the British player was much sharper and determined to dominate. He played a great match, confidently closing down the net while punching holes in his opponents with his heavy topspin forehand. He showed his old friend Raducanu no mercy at all, successfully targeting her throughout.
Having arrived in New York at 12.50am after his triumph at the Cincinnati Open on Monday afternoon, Alcaraz had every reason to feel uncomfortable. His own lack of experience in doubles was also evident as he was unable to take pressure off his struggling partner by imposing himself at the net.
Even in defeat, the Spaniard still left with the best shot of the match. Early in the second set, Alcaraz chased down an angled forehand from Draper and flicked a spectacular forehand winner around the net post. Raducanu, who had actually given up on the point due to the quality of Draper's forehand, put her hands to her head and stared at her genius doubles partner in wonder.
Perhaps the most significant result from this match was Draper's mere presence on the court. He has not competed since his second‑round defeat at Wimbledon last month after opting to withdraw from the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open with a left forearm injury. After his blistering start to the season, his year has cooled in recent months because of injury and a couple of difficult defeats at the French Open and Wimbledon. Here, he looked fit and ready to tackle the rest of the season.
While the partnership between Raducanu and Alcaraz has dominated the headlines since it was announced, the pairing of Draper and Pegula took a while to form. Draper had signed up initially to compete alongside the Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and then Paula Badosa, but both players withdrew from the US Open with significant injuries.
Draper has inadvertently stumbled on to one of the best possible partners. In stark contrast to the three completely inexperienced doubles players around her, Pegula is one of the most accomplished players across both singles and doubles, the current singles No 4 and a former doubles No 1. Her solid baseline play and intelligence on the court provided Draper with the platform to thrive, and they will try to continue this great form.
Alcaraz was not the only player with a rapid turnaround from the Cincinnati Open. Iga Swiatek did not finish her media duties until around 10pm and both she and Alcaraz were ferried from Cincinnati on a private jet. Just over 13 hours after finishing her work in Ohio, she was on-court training with her new doubles partner, Casper Ruud.
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No matter, Swiatek swept on to Arthur Ashe stadium and followed up her Cincinnati triumph with two clean wins to reach the quarter‑finals. The Pole has already put together a number of incredible performances in her occasional mixed‑doubles appearances at the United Cup and in a different state, court and format from her victory against Jasmine Paolini on Monday evening, she was excellent from the beginning alongside Ruud.
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the defending champions and the only doubles specialist team in the draw, marched through the rounds in pursuit of another title – and justice for the doubles specialists who have been squeezed out of the competition in order to accommodate the singles stars.
From the first ball of their opening‑round match against the singles stars Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina, the Italian pairing were on a mission and they carried themselves like a team determined to represent all doubles players. Every point was played with manic intensity, especially from Errani, with their screams of 'allez' and 'vamos' directly punctuating almost every success. Most importantly, they played flawlessly, erecting a wall at the net and picking apart their inexperienced opponents as they eased to straight‑sets wins against Fritz and Elena Rybakina, then Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev.