The 2025 US Open Mixed Doubles Championship presented by Vital Proteins will conclude Wednesday evening with the semifinal and final rounds, with a Grand Slam trophy and a $1 million check on offer for the champions.
The action begins at 7 p.m. in Arthur Ashe Stadium, when top seeds Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper will take on No. 3 seeds Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud before Americans Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison face reigning champs Sara Errani and Matteo Vavassori. The final will immediately follow under the bright lights of the biggest stage in tennis.
Stay up to speed with five things to know ahead of the high-stakes finale.
1) All four semifinalists have dominated so far: Each of the remaining teams progressed to the semis without losing a set, with the opponents in the top half of the draw especially stingy in the first two rounds.
Top seeds Pegula and Draper lived up to their billing, losing just six combined games across four sets on Tuesday. They beat fan favorites Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, 4-2, 4-2, before an even more ruthless performance in a 4-1, 4-1 win over Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev.
"I feel like you're a way better doubles player than I thought," Pegula, a former doubles world No. 1, said of her less experienced partner. "He's calling things, wants to be super aggressive in formations and stuff like that. That was great. I wasn't expecting that.
"I felt like once we got that going, it seemed like it was going to be a better partnership than maybe I even thought."
Swiatek and Ruud also progressed with the loss of just six games, earning twin 4-1, 4-2 results against Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe in the first round and Caty McNally and Lorenzo Musetti in the quarters.
Both Collins/Harrison and Errani/Vavassori survived second-set tiebreaks in the second round, but both maintained their unblemished set records in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
2) New format for the final: Matches in the first three rounds of the tournament, including tonight's semifinals, are best-of-three-set contests with each set played to four games (tiebreak at 4-4) and a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of a third set.
Wednesday night's final will be played with traditional sets to six games, with a 10-point match tiebreak to decide the champion if the competitors split sets.
All matches throughout the tournament will use no-ad scoring, with men serving to men and women serving to women on the sudden-death point.
3) Mixed doubles takes center stage: The new-look tournament was a hit with fans at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Tuesday, with spectators filling both Ashe and Armstrong for the doubles action.
"On the second match, the stadium was packed, so it was great to see a lot of people," Vavassori said after a 4-1, 5-4(4) victory in Armstrong against Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev. "The second set of the second match was great, so many good points, so many rallies.
"It's nice for mixed doubles to be seen on a big stage. I think the best thing we can take from this week is that more people will get to know mixed doubles. Also for the future will be a good thing."
After stretching her team's US Open winning streak to seven matches, Errani was looking forward to returning to Ashe, where she and Vavassori lifted the mixed title one year ago.
"We had so much fun. I'm really happy that we can share the court again," said the Italian, who also won the Roland Garros mixed title with Vavassori this summer. "It was really nice to play there on that amazing court. To have the chance tomorrow to play on center court will be so good."
4) Singles stars show versatility: Among the semifinalists, Swiatek/Ruud are unique in that neither player has been ranked inside the doubles Top 20. Even more surprising: Both players' singles success has been built on a powerful baseline game and groundstrokes hit with heavy spin, a classic formula for clay-court tennis but not one typically associated with doubles.
But the intensity and dipping forehands of both players caused major problems for their opponents at net, and both flashed plenty of athleticism of their own in the frontcourt.
"He stepped up with the forehand and played some great winners that were intimidating also for the opponents," Swiatek said of her partner. "I let Casper do his job in terms of opening up the court. Also when he can go to the net and be active there, I think we got a lot of points from that. For sure, it's super fun to play."
Added Ruud: "I'm really impressed with Iga, the way she handles the men's ball especially. She can return the guys' serve. From the baseline she can rally with anyone. That's both our strongest sides, I would say. We played to the strongest sides of our own game. We had good chemistry from the first point. I think that's also important in doubles."
5) The power of friendship: While Draper and Pegula estimated they spoke four words to each other before they paired up for the tournament, the other three semifinalists have some history.
Swiatek and Ruud have traded public compliments in recent years and are big admirers of one another's games, while Errani and Vavassori are two-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champions competing in their sixth major as a team.
But the longest-running friendship among the semifinalists is between Collins and Harrison, who first discussed the possibility of playing US Open mixed doubles some 15 years ago. In 2023, Collins played the New York event with Harrison's older brother, Ryan Harrison.
"We go way back. She's one of my closest friends in tennis," said Harrison. "I have a good idea what her strengths and weaknesses are. She doesn't really have any weaknesses. She didn't miss too many balls. She made it easy for me to sit back and watch today."
Collins and Harrison are both seeking their first Grand Slam trophy in any discipline. Outside of six-time major singles titlist Swiatek and the Italian defending champs, the same can be said for everyone else remaining in the draw.
Errani, a former doubles world No. 1, owns a career Grand Slam in women's doubles with six titles, alongside her two recent crowns with Vavassori. She also won Olympic doubles gold last summer in Paris with Jasmine Paolini.
Asked to preview their prime-time semifinal matchup, Collins couldn't resist a friendly barb: "They already have enough trophies," she said with a smile. "We can try to take it from them. Do they need another?"
