Cobolli and Bencic Reach Semifinal: Zverev and Alcaraz Out in Mixed Doubles

Flavio Cobolli and Belinda Bencic beat Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams 5-4(4), 4-1 in 55 minutes on Arthur Ashe, reaching the mixed doubles semifinal at the US Open. Hours earlier, in the opening round, the Italian-Swiss pair, fourth seeds, had beaten Alexander Zverev and Taylor Townsend 4-2, 4-2.

The tournament uses a compressed format: sixteen pairs, sets to four games, a tiebreak at 4-4, and a ten-point match tiebreak instead of a third set. Against Alcaraz and Williams, Cobolli and Bencic closed out the first-set tiebreak 7-4 and broke serve at 2-1 in the second, giving up nothing more.

Alcaraz and Williams had entered the draw on a wild card. For the Spaniard it was his first official match in 133 days, since Barcelona, and in New York he still showed up strapped in training after the wrist injury that had ruled him out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The same day also saw the exit of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, defending champions in 2024 and 2025, beaten in the first round by Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev 1-4, 4-1, 11-9 in the match tiebreak.

Bencic called it an honor and admitted she felt the aura of their two opponents. Cobolli said playing against Serena and Carlos on Ashe isn't easy, before joking about the idea of going for a beer.

In the semifinal, Cobolli and Bencic face Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils. With sets to four games a break counts double, and in 55 minutes Alcaraz and Williams never had time to fight their way back into the match.