WHAT HAPPENED: Although they were the lower-ranked team, Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton simply looked more powerful in their first round match at the 2025 US Open Mixed Doubles Championships presented by Vital Proteins. The surging Shelton has a booming serve (regularly clocking in at 145 mph) and Townsend was the most decorated player on the court, currently World No. 1 in the PIF WTA doubles ranking and the 2025 Australian Open’s women's doubles champ. On the other side of the net, American Amanda Anisimova and Dane Holger Rune, the No. 4 seeded team—newer to the game and also to playing with each other.
At the end of the 56-minute match, Townsend and Shelton pulled off the win, 4-1, 5-4(2).
The contest got off to a seesaw start, with both teams dropping serve. After a rocky few games, Rune was serving at 2-3—and slipped to 0-40. The all-American duo took full advantage, taking the first set, 4-2.
Shelton would start serving the second set. And pundits predicted that there was no way the young American would drop a service game in a mixed doubles match. But drop serve he did, behind a 90-mph softball to Anisimova. The next game drew to 40-40, a score that forces a deciding point in this format. Shelton, playing perilously close to the net, hit a winning volley, leveling the set to 1-1.
Highlight reel shots followed, mostly starring Shelton with more daring play up close. The Americans received up 3-2, just a game away from victory. But this time, Anisimova was serving, the only player in the match who had yet to drop her serve. She survived, bringing the match to even once again, 3-3.
Steady play continued, forcing a tiebreak at the 50-minute mark. Townsend and Shelton took an early lead and then extended it to 4-1 behind a thumping overhead from Townsend. Shelton was given the chance to serve it out, up 5-2. They would finish the tiebreak in style, closing it out at 7-2. Final match score: 4-1, 5-4(2).
WHAT'S NEXT: Townsend and Shelton will face the winner of the next match to be played in Louis Armstrong Stadium, featuring the all-American team of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison against Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev.
