New York, 26 August (H.S.): Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz began their campaign at the 2026 US Open Mixed Doubles with a victory but were eliminated after losing to Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli in their next match on Tuesday.

Williams and Alcaraz defeated Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool 5-3, 4-1 in their opening match. It was Serena Williams' first appearance at the US Open since 2022. Following the victory, Williams said returning to the court was an extremely special moment for her.

However, the pair was unable to continue its winning run against Bencic and Cobolli, suffering a 5-4 (4), 4-1 defeat. After losing the first-set tiebreak, Williams and Alcaraz struggled to maintain their momentum and eventually bowed out of the tournament.

Bencic and Cobolli will now face husband-and-wife duo Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils in the semifinals. Svitolina and Monfils defeated Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten 5-4 (6), 4-5 (3), 10-8 in a closely fought encounter to secure their place in the last four.

Siniakova and Patten had earlier produced a major upset by defeating top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic.

In the other semifinal, Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev will take on Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik. Andreeva and Rublev reached the last four after defeating defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, as well as Diana Shnaider and Casper Ruud.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar