Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz teamed up Tuesday in mixed doubles for a US Open return that was significant for both.
They delivered with a comeback, 5-3, 4-1 win over mixed doubles specialists Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool in first-round play, much to the delight of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that showed up to cheer on the tennis superstars.
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They then fell in the quarterfinals to the fourth-seeded team of Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli, 5-4 (7-4), 4-1.
Serena, Alcaraz delight US Open crowd with first-round win
In the first round, Routliffe and Glasspool broke Alcaraz’s first serve and took 2-0 and 3-1 leads in the first set. Sets on Tuesday were played to four games.
Then, trailing 3-2 with the first set on the line, Williams and Alcaraz scored their first break of the match to tie the set at 3-3. They survived two set points to stay alive. Williams then delivered with a pair of aces on her serve to take a 4-3 lead.
With a chance to set up game point on their next serve, Williams delivered a fiery forehand winner off a Routliffe serve.
Williams and Alcaraz followed through with their second break to secure the set, 5-3. They were in control from there. Routliffe and Glasspool won just one of the final eight games as Williams and Alcaraz put on a show for the supportive New York crowd.
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“It’s always such an amazing place to be here. I never expected to be back on this court,” Williams said in her post-match interview. “It was just a really cool moment. I never thought this would happen.”
Bencic, Cobolli too tough
Just minutes after their first-round win, Williams and Alcaraz took the Arthur Ashe Stadium court again in the quarterfinals. There, Bencic and Cobolli proved to be a significantly tougher test.
The two teams played to a tiebreak in the first set that Bencic and Cobolli won, 7-4. Williams hit a would-be winner long that allowed Bencic and Cobolli to extend their tiebreak lead to 6-4. Cobolli then sealed the first-set win with an ace.
Much like Williams and Alcaraz in their first match, Bencic and Cobolli were in control in the second set of the quarterfinals.
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A Cobolli return forced a mishit by Alcaraz on game point in the fourth game, allowing Bencic and Cobolli to break and serve for the match, leading 3-1. Cobolli then delivered on his serve to secure the win and their place in the semifinals.
The win marked the fourth won set in four sets played for Bencic and Cobolli after they swept Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev earlier Tuesday. They’ll take on Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils in the semifinals on Wednesday.
A comeback for both Williams and Alcaraz
For Williams, the match was her first at Arthur Ashe Stadium since her final pre-retirement singles match in 2022. She was back at the US Open on Tuesday competing with one of the biggest stars in the game in Alcaraz as part of a limited comeback to tennis. She will not play in the women’s singles bracket.
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Williams began her comeback in the spring that included a first-round singles loss at Wimbledon to Maya Joint. She’s since played doubles with her sister, Venus, at the Cincinnati Open, where they lost in three sets in the first round to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns.
For Alcaraz, the match marked his return to competitive tennis for the first time since he suffered a wrist injury in April that sidelined him for Wimbledon and the French Open. Alcaraz was initially listed in the field for the Cincinnati Open earlier in August, but he withdrew amid the lingering injury.
His nerves were apparent on the court as he started the first-round match with a double fault, but he settled into his game from there.
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“I was out for four months and a half, almost five months,” Alcaraz said after the first-round win. “I almost forget how it feels stepping on the court once again.”
Now Alcaraz is back for the final Grand Slam of the year. Despite his rust, the two-time and reigning US Open champion is the favorite to win the men’s singles title in a field that doesn’t feature injured World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
