Jakub Mensik and Karolina Muchova fended off match points during their semi-final match en route to winning the US Open mixed doubles title on Wednesday.
The Czech duo clinched the title by coming through two closely contested encounters in the tournament, which was revamped last year with the introduction of new rules, including shorter sets and no-ad scoring. Their first test on Wednesday was against Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Ruvlev, whom they ousted 5-4(8-6), 3-5, 11-9 in the semi-final after saving a series of match points.
Shortly afterwards, they played Flavio Cobolli and Belinda Bencic in the title match, who knocked Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams out of the tournament. The Italian-Swiss pair has already enjoyed success this season by winning the Indian Wells mixed doubles event in March. Nevertheless, Mensik and Muchova came out on top by battling to a 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 victory on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I think in the end, the matching outfits made the difference for us,” Muchova joked in reference to their pink and burgundy kits. “I wasn’t really expecting to be standing here tonight. We came out just having fun and enjoyed this mixed doubles [event] and now we are standing here.”
The event was the first Muchova has played since losing to Linda Noskova in the Wimbledon final. She has been sidelined from action in recent weeks after undergoing a small surgical procedure.
As for Mensik, recently on the Tour, he reached the quarter-finals of the Canadian Masters and the third round in Cincinnati heading into the US Open.
“It’s my first time standing here,” said Mensik, who was playing his first mixed doubles event at pro level. “I didn’t expect this before the tournament, but it’s such great fun. It was amazing to play and start the US Open like that.”
“It’s good we tried a lot of things on the court. It gives you a little bit of a boost of confidence.” He added.
Their reward for winning the star-studded event is $1M in prize money, which will be shared between both of them. This is the second edition of the revamped event, which now takes place during fan week and focuses more on attracting top singles players than before.
“This event is really nice and I really enjoy every moment that I share on court,” said runner-up Cobolli.
“I think this format will be great for the future and I really enjoy everything today (Wednesday).”
Echoing the comments of her doubles partner, Bencic also had high praise for the event.
“I think it was an absolutely mesmerising atmosphere. The format really works and it was so much fun to play. I felt more nervous than in the singles honestly, and for me it really has a big value,” she said.
All four finalists will be contesting the singles tournament, which will get underway on Sunday.
