Talk about a shocker, man! The two best doubles players on the planet, Kateřina Siniaková and Henry Patten, just got bounced in the quarterfinals of the US Open mixed doubles. Who knocked them out? None other than two singles players, Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, in a wild three-set match on Tuesday. Seriously, it’s not every day you see the world No. 1s in both men’s and women’s doubles get sent home by a couple who are literally just winging it!
The Unlikely Duo That Sent Shockwaves Through the Draw
Svitolina and Monfils, who are married, teamed up for the first time ever in an official tennis match, and they confessed they totally had “zero expectations” coming into this. Monfils, who’s turning 40 next week and is playing in his final US Open, used to be a top-10 singles player, but he’s currently ranked way down at No. 306. Svitolina said they practice together a lot at home and tournaments, but they only worked on a few doubles specific things *yesterday*. Their chemistry as a married couple definitely played a part, but wow, what a way to crash the party!
Doubles Specialists Are Getting absolutely Smoked by the New Rules
Siniaková and Patten weren’t the only top doubles teams to fall. Two-time defending champions Sara Errani (women’s doubles No. 9) and Andrea Vavassori (men’s doubles No. 8) also went down to singles stars Mirra Andreeva (women’s singles No. 5) and Andrey Rublev (men’s singles No. 24). Kristina Mladenovic (No. 11 women’s doubles) and Marcelo Arevalo (No. 6 men’s doubles) got eliminated in the Round of 16 by Karolina Muchová (No. 7 women’s singles) and Jakub Mensik (No. 16 men’s singles). Mensik, who hadn’t played mixed doubles since he was nine years old, admitted the accelerated rules really helped them out. Each set goes to just four games instead of the traditional six, there’s no deuce with a single point winning 40-40 ties, and the third set tiebreaker is first to 10 points. Mensik put it perfectly: “If we will play regular rules like until six games, it will be much more difficult. Because we are just playing until four games, sometimes you get lucky.”
The Revamp Is Turning Tennis Upside Down
The US Open overhauled its Mixed Doubles format last year, hiking the grand prize from $200,000 in 2024 to a cool $1 million in 2025 and again this year. The idea was to bring in more singles stars and boost fan interest in the opening week. Errani and Vavassori, who were the only doubles specialists in the 16-team draw last year, were furious about the change, calling it a “profound injustice” that put “money above tennis” in a joint social media post back in February 2025. They actually won that tournament, and Errani said the win was for “all the doubles players that couldn’t play this tournament.” This year’s format did add an 8-team qualifying round on Monday, which allowed four doubles specialists to make the main draw, but it feels like the big singles names are still dominating. The semis are going to be wild, can Svitolina and Monfils keep this Cinderella run alive?
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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