US Open: Pegula/Draper vs Ruud/Swiatek in Mixed Doubles Semifinals

New Mixed Doubles Tournament at the US Open: Renewed Excitement and Dynamics

The US Open has kicked off its revamped mixed doubles tournament, presenting a more agile format and a reduced playing field. Four teams are halfway to the coveted trophy and a prize of one million dollars. Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek, seeded number 3, demonstrated their superiority with resounding victories and will face the top pair, Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper, in one of the semifinals. The current champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the only traditional mixed doubles team in the tournament, will face Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison.

This is the official mixed doubles. If we reach the final tomorrow, I am sure that everyone will be determined to win this.

Casper Ruud

The tournament has undergone significant changes, including shorter matches and fewer participating teams. Prominent figures like Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu suffered an early elimination. Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina, seeded number 2, also fell. Novak Djokovic and his partner Olga Danilovic, suffered the same fate. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) sought to attract renowned players by renovating the tournament, reducing the number of participating teams. Mixed doubles is now played before the individual tournaments begin, in the hope that the individual stars will feel more inclined to participate without interfering with their rest and recovery during the main event. Specialists in traditional doubles, such as Errani and Vavassori, have expressed criticism of the changes. However, they recognize the positive aspects of the new format.

There are always positive and negative aspects. But the positive thing is that the stadium was full in the second match.

Andrea Vavassori

Errani and Vavassori were not sure they could defend their title in the new format, which grants eight automatic spots based on the combined ranking of the players. The remaining spots are USTA invitations.

The Italians received one of these invitations and demonstrated their skill by defeating Fritz and Rybakina in the first round, in a match that lasted only 42 minutes. The shortened format allows matches to develop quickly, with teams playing twice on the first day and potentially twice more on Wednesday night. The new schedule has scheduled mixed doubles during the qualifying week for the individual tournaments, which the USTA calls “fan week.” Admission is free, which attracted a large crowd to the Louis Armstrong Stadium for the opening match. The match format includes sets to four games with a 10-point tiebreak instead of a third set until the semi-finals. The final will be similar to a regular match, with sets to six games, tiebreaks at 6-6 and a 10-point tiebreak for the third set.