Ahead of the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament, Jakub Mensik reached out to partner Karolina Muchova to align their outfits. This attention to appearance reflects the importance both players place on looking sharp while competing on the court.
Muchova and Mensik won the title Wednesday night in their first time playing together, beating Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6 (10-6). He put away the final with an ace to earn $1 million for him and Muchova to share. They were a point from losing in the semifinals, erasing two match points and running off the final four to edge Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev 5-4 (6), 3-5 (11-9). Bencic and Cobolli rallied to end the run of spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils in the first semifinal with a 4-5 (7), 4-1 (10-5) victory. The final was the only match of the tournament that resembled a regular match, with standard sets to six games and a tiebreaker at 6-all. Through the first three rounds, sets were to four games, with a tiebreaker at 4-all. Then they dropped a set for the first time in the tournament in the semis, but began to dominate midway through the second set, winning the final 11 points to force the match tiebreaker. Married since 2021, they were trying to win a championship in Monfils’s final Grand Slam appearance before he retires, on Sept. 1, when he turns 40.
But they couldn’t win their second one in the final. Svitolina and Monfils, who have both reached the U.S. Open singles semifinals, accepted a wild card to team up for the first time.
The Czech duo, wearing the same pink tops and maroon bottoms they settled on Monday, pulled out match tiebreakers in both matches on the second night of the two-day event, fueled by Mensik’s powerful serve combined with some good hands near the net.
