Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic won the US Open mixed doubles championship on Wednesday, defeating Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3 1-6 [10-6] and collecting the $1m grand prize.
Muchova and Mensik had rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 8-5 in their semi-final against Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev, saving two match points to win 5-4 (8-6) 3-5 [11-9]. They advanced through earlier rounds by defeating Kristina Mladenovic and Marcelo Arevalo in the first round and Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals.
The Czech pairing took the opening set in less than 30 minutes. Bencic and Cobolli, the Indian Wells champions, levelled the match in the second set before Mensik's serve and net play helped the Czechs take control of the deciding 10-point tie-break. Mensik sealed the victory with a 131-mph ace.
Muchova said she had not expected to reach the final. "We came out just to have fun and enjoy these mixed doubles and now we are standing here," she said. "I think this is a really good start to the US Open for all of us."
For Bencic, a former Olympic champion, it was a maiden Grand Slam final at senior level. Bencic and Cobolli had reached the final after defeating Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina 4-5 (7-9) 4-1 [10-5] in the semi-finals.
