Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Norway’s Casper Ruud, two points away from a defeat, rallied to win the final six points and beat the United States’ Jessica Pegula and Great Britain’s Jack Draper 3-5, 5-3, 10-8 in the U.S. Open mixed doubles semifinals on Wednesday in New York.
Swiatek and Ruud, who were seeded third, will oppose the defending champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, in the championship match later Wednesday. The Italian duo rolled past the U.S. pair of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison 4-2, 4-2.
The event features first-to-four first and second sets, with a tiebreaker at 4-4 if necessary. The final set is replaced by a first-to-10 tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker to end the first semifinal, Pegula and Draper, the event’s top seeds, led 3-0 and 8-4, but they failed to win another point.
Swiatek delivered a volley winner on match point.
“I will remember this forever,” she said.
Swiatek and Ruud wound up with 24 winners to 12 for Pegula and Draper, while the victors had only slightly more unforced errors than the losers (19-17).
Errani and Vavassori faced only two break points (saving one) in their semifinal win. They are searching for their third Grand Slam title as a pair, having also won the French Open this year.
–Field Level Media
