Overview
- Karolína Muchová and Jakub Menšík defeated Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 to claim the U.S. Open mixed doubles title and split the $1 million first prize on Wednesday night.
- The Czech pair reached the final after a tense semifinal in which they saved two match points against Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev before winning the match tiebreak.
- The reworked event uses shortened early sets (first to four games), no-ad scoring, and a 10-point match tiebreak in place of a full third set, and it was staged over two condensed days to draw top singles stars.
- High-profile teams such as Serena Williams/Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka/Novak Djokovic entered but fell before the final rounds, leaving few established doubles specialists in the late draw and producing several long, back-to-back night sessions.
- The USTA’s experiment delivered TV-friendly matchups and gate interest while also exposing scheduling strains and criticism that the format favors singles stars over doubles specialists, a debate likely to shape how the event is run next year.