- Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori beat Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud to defend their US Open mixed doubles title
- "We have been on a mission," Vavassori said afterwards. "We showed today that doubles is a great product"
- Errani dedicated the title to those doubles specialists who were not given entries into the 16-team revamped event
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori said they had "been on a mission" after retaining their US Open mixed doubles title under a contentious, revamped format, beating Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud in Wednesday's final.
Errani and Vavassori – who won mixed doubles crowns at the 2024 US Open and at Roland-Garros earlier this year – were the only doubles specialists to play the reimagined event.
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu were among the big names to compete in the shortened tournament, which had a $1m prize fund.
But they were all eliminated during the first session of play on Tuesday, with Wednesday's semi-finals starting with Swiatek and Ruud against Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper.
Swiatek and Ruud recovered from a set down to win 3-5 5-3 (10-8), with a first-to-10 tie-break used to decide matches that went to one set all.
Errani and Vavassori then saw off American duo Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison in straight sets to join them in the final, which proved to be a hard-fought affair.
With full-length sets introduced, Errani and Vavassori took the opener, but a backhand winner from Swiatek levelled things up and forced another tie-break.
In front of a capacity crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Errani and Vavassori raced into a 4-0 lead, and after a Swiatek double-fault kept them ahead, Vavassori's thumping forehand sealed victory.
"We have been on a mission," Vavassori said afterwards. "We have done something amazing in these two years. We showed today that doubles is a great product."
Errani, meanwhile, dedicated the title to those doubles specialists that were not given wildcard entries into the 16-team event.
"Playing with all these people is something incredible for us," said Errani. "This one is for all the doubles players who couldn't play this tournament."
Data Debrief: Swiatek and Ruud put up a fight
Swiatek and Ruud appeared to be totally outclassed when they went 3-0 down in the first set of the final, but they recovered to make things interesting against the doubles specialists.
They took all three of their break-point opportunities in the match, also winning a greater proportion of first-serve points (72%) than their opponents (67%) and striking more winners (27 to 25).
However, 25 unforced errors proved costly as Errani and Vavassori became the first mixed doubles pair to win multiple majors in a season since 2021, when Desirae Krawczyk and Joe Salisbury also won the French Open and US Open events.
