US Open 2025: During a rain-induced match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the mixed doubles summit clash of the ongoing Grand Slam witnessed two nail-biting thrillers. The duo of Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud faced World No.3 Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula in a first-of-its-kind match. Swiatek and Ruud won the match by 3-5, 5-3, and had a 10-8 tiebreak win and thus qualified for the summit clash.

They will lock horns with reigning champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori during the summit clash. The match would be held on the same day, where the players would be eyeing a prize money of one million dollars.

Jessica and Draper won the toss and chose to receive. Swiatek and Ruud had a flying start as they had won the first game as Draper had committed an unforced error, and thus the scorecard was 1-0. But they made a brilliant comeback and won the next game, and the score was leveled at 1-1. The third game turned out to be a close call and went till deuce, where Pegula and Draper had won the point and took a lead of 2-1.

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The pair of Swiatek and Ruud showed grit and determination and bounced back to level the score at 2-2 after playing in a long rally. Both pairs were seen sweating it out, traded games, and kept the scores leveled at 3-3. At the match point, Swiatek took a review since she saw the ball bounce twice, but the on-field umpire didn't decide in her favour. Pegula and Draper took advantage of this opportunity and took a lead of 4-3. The first set ended after 37 minutes, where Pegula and Draper won by 5-3.

But then Swiatek and Ruud made a brilliant comeback during the set as they had won the first game and took a lead of 1-0. Pegula and Draper then bounced back and leveled the scorecard at 1-1. Draper was able to play Swiatek's serve aggressively, and they were leading by 2-1. But Swiatek and Ruud bounced back again as their opponents committed three unforced errors, and the scores were leveled at 2-2. Ruud played a brilliant serve and took a lead of 3-2.

The second set consists of high-octane rallies. When the score was 40-all, Swiatek netted a forehand and thus helped Jessica and Draper take the lead. Both Swiatek and Ruud were destined to win this match and took a lead of 4-3. They had won the set by 5-3 and had also leveled the match since both pairs had won one set apiece.

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In order to qualify for the summit clash, they had to play a tiebreaker. The first semifinal had gone to a tiebreaker, and this was something new for this Grand Slam. The top seeds were trailing by 8-4 during the tiebreaker as Swiatek had committed an error. They had then won six consecutive points and had won the tiebreaker and the match by 10-8.

Post the match, Casper Ruud said, “I’m gonna eat a little bit. I’m a little hungry. It was a long match. It was longer than Iga’s normal singles matches.”

The match to make it to the finals

The new mixed doubles format of the ongoing Grand Slam witnessed its semifinal match, and the main aim of it was to attract top singles players. Errani and Vavassori had already shown their disappointment with this format and were still given a wild card even though they could beat Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison by 4-2, 4-2, and had qualified for the summit clash.

They are on the verge of becoming the first double champions of Flushing Meadows after Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray way back in 2018-19.

Vavasori was heard as saying, Yeah. We are on a mission." The summit clash would be held in a traditional set format, which will have sets to six games.