Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams win US Open mixed doubles debut 5-3, 4-1

Return to Arthur Ashe Stadium

Carlos Alcaraz stepped onto Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday for his first competitive match in 19 weeks, partnering Serena Williams in the US Open mixed doubles tournament. The Spanish player had been sidelined for over four months following a right wrist injury suffered at the Conde de Godó tournament in Barcelona in April, an absence that caused him to miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Alcaraz arrived in New York on Saturday and completed his first practice session on Sunday before entering the mixed draw. Wearing a compression sleeve and a wide wristband on his right arm alongside a matching lilac outfit, Alcaraz opened the contest with a double fault and lost his initial service game. The tandem recovered by saving two set points in the opening set before closing out a 5-3, 4-1 victory over New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Great Britain's Lloyd Glasspool.

At the beginning I was nervous, but it was super electric.

A short-format mixed doubles draw

The fixture was contested under a revised short format introduced in 2025 to draw marquee singles players into the mixed discipline. Matches feature sets played to four games, sudden-death golden points at 40-40, and a ten-point super tie-break in the event of a split. Routliffe, a two-time US Open women's doubles champion who reached the top ranking in July 2024, and Glasspool, a 2025 Wimbledon champion with 14 career doubles trophies, entered through the qualifying stage. Despite the specialized doubles experience of Routliffe and Glasspool, the newly formed pair of Alcaraz and Williams took control after the opening set, breaking serve to finish the second set in four games.

Williams extends her New York record

For Williams, who turns 45 next month, the appearance was her first competitive outing at Flushing Meadows since the 2022 US Open, where she had stepped away from the sport. Williams returned to selected competition in June, extending a New York legacy that includes winning the mixed doubles championship in 1998 with Max Mirnyi, who currently coaches Aryna Sabalenka. Five days ahead of the singles main draw, Williams provided veteran guidance to Alcaraz, who had competed in the mixed event last year alongside Emma Raducanu before a first-round exit.

I never would have believed I'd return to this court, it was an incredible moment.

Bracket results and Federer exhibition

Alcaraz and Williams advance to the quarter-finals to face Italy's Flavio Cobolli and Switzerland's Belinda Bencic. Elsewhere in the tournament, Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina reached the semi-finals by eliminating top-ranked doubles specialists Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten, while Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka were eliminated in their opening match. The mixed doubles competition concludes on Wednesday with the semi-finals and championship match. The day's schedule also included an exhibition match featuring Roger Federer, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, and Andy Roddick.

There is great joy in being able to return to the place where I lived so many wonderful moments.