NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 20: Iga Swiatek of Poland and Casper Ruud of Norway react to defeating Jessica Pegula of the United States and Jack Draper of Great Britain in the semi-final of the Mixed Doubles competition at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 20, 2025 in New York City (Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images)
(August 20, 2025) FLUSHING, NY – In the first semifinal, top seeds Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper fell to the third seeds Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek 3-5, 5-3, 10-8.
Just on Monday night, Swiatek won the Cincinnati Open, made it to New York late, and played her first two mixed doubles matches with little rest.
Pegula and Draper broke Swiatek’s serve in the third game to go up 2-1, but Pegula gave up a break straight away in the next game for 2-2. Ruud held for 3-2. Draper held at love—a challenge against Pegula, saying that her racquet crossed the net when she hit a winning shot. The review gave Pegula/Draper the point, and they went on to break serve.
Pegula held to close the set 5-3 for the top seeds.
In the second set, Swiatek – Ruud reversed course and leveled the match at 3-5, 5-3.
Ruud/Swiatek rallied from 8-4 down to win the tiebreaker, the match 3-5, 5-3, 10-8.
The one-hour, 25-minute match for the Swiatek – Ruud partnership 10-8 match tiebreaker win over Draper – Pegula was the longest match of this 2025 mixed doubles competition so far.
Despite the loss, Draper enjoyed playing mixed doubles: “I enjoyed the competition. I loved it, playing alongside Jessica. I wasn’t expecting probably to have as good of a time as I did.
“Honestly, I thought we played great. Tonight was a tough match. They were on good form.
“But yeah, just overall a really positive experience. Loved playing with you. Hope to do it again.”
Pegula said: “I had so much fun. I mean, obviously it helps when you’re winning a few matches and you get to play a night on Ashe. I feel more sad honestly than after a singles match in a way. I feel like I kind of let him down a little bit.
“But besides that, I really wanted to play another match. I had so much fun. Like, we got along really well. I was hoping we could get to the finish line there.
“But I had a great time. I can’t say anything else. I loved it.”
In the second semifinal, defending champions and wild cards Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani made quick work of the alternate team of Americans Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison 4-2, 4-2 in 43 minutes.
“Obviously we played against a very experienced team,” Collins said. “They really play well together. They won a lot of trophies. They came out with some good strategy against us. There were some tricky points, close games that kind of got away with us.
“I think with this format, too, it makes it a little bit more challenging because a couple of those key opportunities get away and you’re behind by more than you want to be. It really can go either way sometimes.
“But yeah, I thought the second set we really had some opportunities there to go up. It just didn’t go our way, so that’s to be expected in tennis.”
So what makes it so difficult to play the Italians, when Errani’s serve is not the strongest?
Collins said: “I think of her serve, it’s not apparently strong if you’re looking at the miles per hour, but she has good placement on the serve. I think that type of ball can really throw people off. She’s putting a lot on it, a lot of topspin, a lot of slice, and she mixes her targets well.
“I would argue that she actually does a pretty good job with the placement of her serve and it’s tricky, for a lot of the guys especially, because the guys don’t see that type of serve very often. For the girls, too, we don’t see that type of serve too, too often. It is a bit tricky.
“Then I think on his side, he does some good things also on the serve. Gets it above our shoulder. We were having to adjust our positions a lot. So I think they’re a little bit unorthodox, but that’s what makes them so good.”
More to follow…
