Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils are out of the US Open mixed doubles tournament after picking up a 3-5 2-4 loss to Caty McNally and Lorenzo Musetti, while No. 2 seeds Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz lost 2-4 2-4 to defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
Playing under the Fast4 format, Osaka and Monfils lost their serve in the fifth game after dropping the game via a deciding point. With a chance to serve out for the first set, McNally and Musetti blew two consecutive set points as this time the Japanese/French combination won the game through a deciding point to level the opener to three games apiece. But then, disappointingly for Osaka and Monfils, they dropped their serve again in the seventh game as the American/Italian pair went 4-3 up and served out for the set in their second attempt.
After taking the opener, McNally and Musetti earned the first break of the second set in the fifth game to open a 3-2 lead. On the brink of the loss, Osaka and Monfils had a chance to get the break back – force a tie-break – but they missed out on three consecutive break points as McNally and Musetti got the job done in two sets.
In the US Open mixed doubles quarterfinal, McNally and Musetti will meet the winner of the match between Iga Swiatek & Casper Ruud and Madison Keys & Frances Tiafoe.
How Rybakina and Fritz lost their US Open mixed doubles match?
In the mixed doubles match that finished first, Rybakina and Fritz faced some pressure right out of the gate but managed to save two break points in the opening game. However, Errani and Vavassori kept pressing and they got the first break of the match two games later to go 2-1 up. From that moment on, the defending champions routinely held on to her serve for the rest of the set to bag the opener.
The second set was more or less the same story as Rybakina and Fritz saved some early break points but Errani and Vavassori remained unfazed and took the No. 2 seed's serve in the fifth game, before serving out for the match in the following game.
For a place in the US Open mixed doubles semifinal, Errani and Vavassori will face either Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka or Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev.
