Iga Swiatek, Casper Ruud romp into US Open mixed doubles semis, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic out

NEW YORK – Iga Swiatek said it was important not to be lazy, as she shrugged off weariness to partner Casper Ruud to back-to-back wins in the revamped mixed doubles competition at the US Open on Aug 19.

The Pole – who battled through an almost two-hour tussle with Jasmine Paolini a day earlier to win the Cincinnati Open – looked full of energy as she and Ruud powered into the Aug 20 (Aug 21, Singapore time) semi-finals.

The duo needed just 39 minutes to dispatch the US pairing of Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe 4-1, 4-2 in their opening game at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

They then reappeared roughly 20 minutes later to defeat American Caty McNally and Italian Lorenzo Musetti 4-1, 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

The victories capped a gruelling 24 hours for Swiatek, who hotfooted it to the airport after the Aug 18 win in Cincinnati and arrived at her hotel in New York only in the early hours of Aug 19.

“Honestly, the last two days have felt like one day, but I’m super happy to be here,” she said, adding that her tight turnaround had helped her unwind after her exertions in Cincinnati.

“Honestly, I think actually it’s kind of nice for the recovery... To have another task and to not let yourself be lazy but also focused on the next exciting thing.”

Swiatek and Norway’s Ruud had just enough time to fit in a quick practice before taking to the court in their first match as a doubles pairing.

“I was happy to team up with Iga,” Ruud said afterwards.

“She’s on the winning train these days, so I’m just jumping on the train and let’s see if we can win some more before the mixed doubles is over.

“I think everyone should show some appreciation to Iga today. She only got to her hotel 12 hours ago at 2.30am, and she’s here playing.”

They will meet top seeds Jessica Pegula of the US and Britain’s Jack Draper in the semi-finals.

Pegula and Draper clicked smoothly to eliminate the glamour pairing of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Britain’s Emma Raducanu 4-2, 4-2 in the first round, before easing past Russia’s Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva 4-1, 4-1 in the quarter-finals.

“It’s always fun just to be on Ashe and playing in front of a full crowd. It’s been awesome,” Pegula said.

“Playing at a high level is really cool. I don’t think you can take that for granted.

“I’ve loved that aspect of it. Any time you can get out there and get extra reps and compete and win matches, I mean, that’s why we play. To me, it doesn’t really matter.”

Medvedev and Andreeva had earlier romped past Serbian pairing Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic in straight sets in the first round, winning 4-2, 5-3.

In other results, US tennis icon Venus Williams and partner Reilly Opelka exited against Czech Karolina Muchova and Russia’s Andrey Rublev, losing 4-2, 5-4 (7-4).

Italy’s reigning champions Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani ousted second seeds Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and American Taylor Fritz 4-2, 4-2.

Earlier, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal from the mixed doubles was confirmed as expected. The Italian, who retired due to illness in the first set of his Cincinnati Open final with Alcaraz on Aug 18, was due to partner Czech Katerina Siniakova in the doubles.

Sinner and Siniakova were replaced in the draw by the American duo of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison.

The 2025 US Open mixed doubles competition is being held from Aug 19 to 20, before the singles main draws get under way.

The tournament is using a modified scoring system, with short sets to four games, no-advantage scoring, tiebreaks at four-all and a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of a third set.

The final will be a best-of-three-sets match to six games, featuring no-advantage scoring, with tiebreaks at six-all and a 10-point match tiebreak instead of a third set, with the winning pairing pocketing US$1 million (S$1.3 million). AFP, REUTERS