The first champions of the 2026 U.S. Open were decided in a format that was meant to feel different, and the final night delivered exactly that. Karolína Muchová and Jakub Menšík won the mixed doubles title late Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, beating Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli in the final after a deciding match tiebreak.
The result came at the end of a redesigned event that kept Grand Slam status but asked a different question than the old version. The USTA wanted star power, and it got it. The field included some of the biggest names in the sport on Day 1, with Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka all part of the opening attraction. The crowds reflected that ambition too, especially on the first day, when 24,000 fans came through the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
A final built on pressure, not margin
Muchová and Menšík did not coast through the event. On Wednesday, they saved two match points and defeated Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev in the semifinal-deciding tiebreak, then returned later to finish the job against Bencic and Cobolli. The final score was 6-3, 1-6, 10-6, which tells the story pretty well: one team seized the first set, the other hit back hard, and the title came down to a small stretch of nerve in the breaker.
That is exactly why this mixed doubles experiment mattered. A $1 million first prize changes the stakes, but the structure changed the pressure too. There was less room for drift, less room for slow starts, and far less room to treat mixed doubles as a sideshow. The best teams still had to produce under the kind of tension that usually belongs to the later rounds of a Grand Slam.
For Muchová, the night also carried a lighter note. She said their outfits made a difference, which fits the mood of a tournament that was clearly built to look and feel bigger than the traditional mixed doubles draw. But the clothes were only part of the story. The real edge came from holding up in the biggest moments, first against Andreeva and Rublev and then against Bencic and Cobolli in the final at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The broader context matters here too. Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori won the mixed doubles title in its original form in 2024, then retained it last year. This year’s version was reimagined, still official, still a Grand Slam event, but designed to spotlight top singles players from the start. That meant the first two days had the feel of a showcase and a competition at once.
In the end, Muchová and Menšík became the first champions of the new era by surviving the kind of match that strips tennis down to its essentials. The draw brought the stars, the crowd brought the energy, and the final brought the tension. The title, and the $1 million that came with it, belonged to the pair that handled all three best.
