After Wednesday's washout, the 2019 US Open Doubles Tournament kicks off Thursday. And while there’s no shortage of dramatic storylines to follow—Can the Bryan Brothers capture a 17th Grand Slam title together? Will Ash Barty, CoCo Vandeweghe or Jack Sock defend their titles with new partners?—half the fun is in discovering some of the interesting, random and downright quirky pairings in the draw.
Unfortunately, Serena Williams and Andy Murray have not re-teamed in mixed doubles as they did at Wimbledon, with Murray sitting out this year's Open. But here are some of the other fun teams to watch, including the two teens making waves during Week 1: Coco Gauff and Caty McNally.
MEN’S DOUBLES
Hubert Hurkacz and Vasek Pospisil: Even though he lost in the first round of singles, Poland’s Hurkacz just won his first-ever title in Winston-Salem. Pospisil is a former Wimbledon doubles champion, with Sock. The challenge for this duo: overcoming the Bryan brothers in Round 1.
Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez: With an eye toward Tokyo 2020, the Spaniards will team up again after making the third round at Wimbledon. Carreno Busta, a 2017 US Open singles semifinalist, just took out No. 19 seed Guido Pella in the singles tournament; Lopez, who won the French Open men's doubles title with Marc Lopez in 2016, dismissed No. 26 seed Taylor Fritz and recently won the doubles event at the Fever-Tree Championships in London with Murray.
Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow: Last year, Sock won the US Open doubles title with Mike Bryan, while Bob was out recovering from hip surgery. This time around, he’ll pair up with childhood friend Withrow. The team won a title in Delray Beach in 2018 and knocked No. 2 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah out of the 2019 Australian Open. (Cabal and Farah eventually went on to win Wimbledon this year.)
Alexander Bublik and John Millman: Bublik, from Kazakhstan, is a funky player who likes to throw in an underarm serve; Australian Millman took Roger Federer out of singles contention with some blistering groundstrokes at the tournament last year.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES
Anna Kalinskaya and Yulia Puntintseva: Kalinskaya just won her first Grand Slam singles match in style, defeating 2017 champion Sloane Stephens under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Putintseva dismissed Naomi Osaka in Round 1 of Wimbledon earlier this summer and is pretty much a guaranteed show whenever she’s battling on a tennis court.
Coco Gauff and Caty McNally: The American teenagers—who have each been big stories in this year’s singles tournament—are the reigning girls’ doubles champions and also teamed up to win the title in Washington earlier this summer.
Bianca Andreescu and Sharon Fichman: The duo from the Great White North—one of whom (Andreescu) has broken out on the WTA Tour this season in a big way—are sure to attract a crowd of spectators who know all the lyrics to "O Canada."
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe: Vandeweghe teamed up with Barty to take the title last year. This time around, while Barty partners with Victoria Azarenka, Vandeweghe will play with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won in 2016 with her longtime doubles partner Lucie Safarova. (Safarova retired earlier this year; Mattek-Sands is also defending the mixed title with Jamie Murray.)
MIXED DOUBLES
Simona Halep and Horia Tecau: It’s not often you see a Top-10 singles player in the mixed draw. Reigning Wimbledon champion Halep will play with fellow Romanian (and 2017 US Open men’s doubles champion) Tecau.
Hailey Baptiste and Jenson Brooksby: Seventeen-year-old Baptiste (who recently defeated Madison Keys in singles in Washington, D.C.) and 18-year-old Brooksby (who beat Tomas Berdych in the first round of the men’s singles draw) will hope to capitalize on recent form and become the first All-American team to capture the mixed title since Melanie Oudin and Sock in 2011. For the record, those two were also teenagers at the time of their victory.
