{"id":90452,"date":"2025-08-19T21:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T21:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=90452"},"modified":"2025-08-19T21:49:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T21:49:00","slug":"raducanu-alcaraz-out-as-polarising-us-open-event-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=90452","title":{"rendered":"
Raducanu & Alcaraz out as polarising US Open event starts<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz might have lost in the revamped US Open mixed doubles \u2013 but they certainly won the hearts of the New York crowd.<\/p>\n

In a party-like atmosphere at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Britain\u2019s Raducanu and Spain\u2019s Alcaraz saw their chances of claiming a $1 million winning prize ended by fellow Briton Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

Despite the presence of home player Pegula, it was the losing pair who were heavily backed by a sizeable crowd at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n

Pegula and Draper won 4-2, 4-2 in the new shortened format, which is part of the US Open\u2019s\u00a0\u201creimagination\u201d of the mixed doubles.<\/p>\n

As well as the huge financial incentives, the event has also been moved forward to the week before the singles main draws to attract the stars.<\/p>\n

Raducanu and Alcaraz teaming up for the glamorous event \u2013 which has controversially deviated from its traditional format and polarised opinion \u2013 created many of the pre-tournament headlines.<\/p>\n

There was a fear they might not turn out at all, given Alcaraz played in the final of an ATP event in Cincinnati on Monday.<\/p>\n

But the pair walked out together on the US Open\u2019s main show court, little over 24 hours later, to a euphoric reception of screams and shouts.<\/p>\n

An excitable atmosphere continued as the fans \u2013 who paid between $25 (\u00a318.50) and $145 (\u00a3107) for what British doubles player Jamie Murray described as a \u201cglorified exhibition\u201d \u2013 danced to tunes played by an on-court DJ and acted up when appearing on the big screen.<\/p>\n

Both sets of players smiled and laughed throughout, further illustrating how the stars are using the event to tune up for their greater priority of the singles.<\/p>\n

For some, it underlined the view of the doubles specialists sidelined that a Grand Slam tournament had lost value.<\/p>\n

Pegula, who has been ranked world number one in the women\u2019s doubles, and Draper were also a scratch pairing but had too much quality against a pair who are less experienced in tour-level doubles.<\/p>\n

For Draper, it was third time lucky \u2013 having seen previous planned partners Zheng Qinwen and Paula Badosa withdraw through injury.<\/p>\n

Pegula and Draper will play Russia\u2019s Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev in the last eight after they beat Serbia\u2019s Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

There was the loss of one star name before Tuesday\u2019s play started, when men\u2019s world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew through illness.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re playing for all the doubles players not here\u2019<\/h2>\n

When the news about the US Open\u2019s plans emerged in February, reigning mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavussori labelled the decision \u201ca profound injustice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Their thoughts have since been echoed by many doubles specialists, who also gripe about losing a crucial earning opportunity after being pushed out in favour of the stars.<\/p>\n

Errani and Vavussori were eventually given a wildcard to play in the 16-team event, but were the only specialist doubles pairing in the draw.<\/p>\n

The Italian pair opened the day\u2019s play on Louis Armstrong Stadium \u2013 the second show court at Flushing Meadows \u2013 and competed like they had a point to prove.<\/p>\n

Passionate roars were loud and clear throughout their 4-2 4-2 opening win over big-name pairing Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz.<\/p>\n

More emotion was shown when they reached Wednesday\u2019s semi-finals with a 4-1 5-4 (7-4) victory against Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also playing for all the doubles players that could not be here, so we tried to do our best,\u201d said Vavassori.<\/p>\n

Six-time Grand Slam singles champion Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, a three-time major finalist, also reached Wednesday\u2019s last four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"RaducanuEmma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz might have lost in the revamped US Open mixed doubles – but they certainly won the hearts of the New York crowd.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2284,10,9,1957],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carlos-alcaraz","category-politics","category-popular","category-tennis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}