Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic were knocked out of the US Open mixed doubles on Tuesday, losing 4-1, 2-4, 2-10 to qualifiers Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten.
Patten said: “It wasn’t looking very good for a while, in this format we play one bad game and all of a sudden the first set’s gone. We knew the same could happen in the second, and we played an amazing tiebreak. Kat acing Novak on match point was great.”
Later, Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz are due to make their return to tennis in the mixed doubles, facing Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool. Williams, 44, is playing four years after her last competitive singles match, while Alcaraz returns from a wrist injury that has kept him out for four months.
Siniakova and Patten will next face Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals.