Second-round action kicked off on Saturday as mixed doubles continued in earnest at the US Open, where a major upset shook up the draw. Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos and El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo claimed the biggest win of the day after needing a match tiebreak to oust top seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ivan Dodig.
Supported by a vocal Spanish-speaking continent on Court 12, Olmos and Arevalo saved a set point in the opening set and reeled off four games in a row to take the lead. They kept their cool even as Melichar-Martinez and Dodig rallied back in the second, breaking once to send them into a decider, and won the 10-point shootout to advance, 7-5, 3-6, [10-5].
They will next face an unseeded team, either Andreja Klepac and Joran Vliegen or Ellen Perez and Marcelo Demoliner. Both teams won their first-round matches today to advance, with Perez and Demoliner taking down Americans Madison Keys and Bjorn Fratangelo in straight sets.
No. 2 seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Joe Salisbury dodged an upset to continue their US Open campaigns, and had to save set points in both sets of their 7-6(1), 7-5 victory over Belinda Bencic and Filip Polasek. Krawczyk is seeking her third consecutive mixed doubles title, after claiming the French Open trophy with Salisbury and partnering with Neal Skupski to victory at Wimbledon.
Their next opponents will be No. 8 seeds Demi Schuurs and Sander Gille, who also advanced on Saturday after receiving a walkover from Nadia Podoroska and Maximo Gonzalez.
Alexa Guarachi and Skupski held their nerve after letting set point slip away in the first set of their clash with Galina Voskoboeva and Nikola Cacic. The No. 3 seeds broke serve four times in the second set, and edged through in the match tiebreak to win, 6-7(4), 6-1, [10-8].
