7-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. The final four men's doubles teams faced off in two semis Thursday for a spot in the championship match at the 2019 US Open, and the thinnest of margins—two tiebreak sets a piece—separated the winners from the losers.
In the first, No. 8 seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos defeated the reigning French Open men's doubles champions, No. 12 seeds and German pairing Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz, to advance. They'll take on the No. 1 seeds and reigning Wimbledon men's doubles champions, Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who dismissed No. 15 seeds Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.
Just how tense were these contests? Granollers and Zeballos versus Krawietz and Mies featured just one break point opportunity in the entire match, which the German team was not able to convert. Cabal and Farah versus Murray and Skupski featured just three break opportunities that neither team could convert. Murray and Skupski made just six total unforced errors...and still lost the match.
"You're playing against the best in the world here," Farah said on court after his match. "Jamie [Murray] has won this tournament before, so he knows the way. So you have to bring your best to beat these teams and you gotta give your 100 percent. Thankfully everything went our way this time."
The Colombian team have had a blistering year at the majors, making it to the French Open semifinals, in addition to their Wimbledon victory in July. They were also US Open semifinalists in 2018, losing to eventual champions Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in three sets. This will be the first Grand Slam final for Zeballos and third for Granollers. (He previously made the French Open and US Open finals in 2014 with then-partner Marc Lopez.)
"We are really enjoying this moment, one of the best moments of our career," Zeballos said after the match. "I don't want to wake up."
On the women's side, things shook out a little differently. Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty put on a dominant performance in their semifinal match to defeat Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Viktoria Kuzmova, 6-0, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. How much were they feeling it? In the second point of the second set, Sasnovich and Kuzmova looked in total control. They kept pounding balls toward Azarenka at the net, pushing the Belarusian back to the baseline. They then hit a short ball to her, and Azarenka charged forward to return it for a winner.
"Vika [Azarenka] is such a champion," Barty said after the match. "I'm glad she's on my side of the court."
For Azarenka, the win was particularly satisfying. "Every year is different," she said, when asked if the team relied on their previous Grand Slam titles (Azarenka has two Australian Open singles titles, Barty won the French Open earlier this year, and the doubles title at the US Open last year with CoCo Vandeweghe) to propel them to victory. "Every step in our careers is different. For me, it's gonna be my first Grand Slam final as a mom, so it's extra special."
Azarenka and Barty will face the winners of the other semifinal between No. 4 seeds Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka and all-American duo Caroline Dolehide and Vania King, who play Friday.
