NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic were eliminated in the first round of the mixed doubles tournament at the US Open on Tuesday, falling 1-4, 4-2 (10-2) to Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten. The pair started strong but couldn't hold on, as reported by infohub.kz.
Siniakova, ranked No. 1 in women's doubles, ended the match with an ace while serving to Djokovic. "Kat acing Novak on match point was pretty fun," Patten said after the match, before a quick turnaround to play their quarterfinal against the married pair of Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils.
Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz were in action later in the first round of the 16-team event, which offers a $1 million prize to the winning team. The tournament was overhauled last year to attract more top singles players, moved to a two-day event before the singles main draw, with a scoring format that guarantees quick matches.
Sabalenka, the two-time defending US Open women's champion, and 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic had the No. 1 seed based on the lowest combined singles ranking, but their loss was far from an upset. Patten is ranked No. 1 in men's doubles, and he and Siniakova turned things around after Sabalenka and Djokovic stormed through the first set in 12 minutes and got an early break in the second.
In other matches, Svitolina and Monfils routed Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-1, 4-1. Also, Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik edged Kristina Mladenovic and Marcelo Arevalo 4-1, 2-4 (10-7).