NZ’s Erin Routliffe Draws Serena Williams And Carlos Alcaraz In The US Open Mixed Doubles Event

New Zealand doubles tennis player Erin Routliffe has made it through the qualifying draw at the US Open’s star-studded mixed doubles event, and has drawn two of the sport's biggest headliners in the first round.

Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams await the New Zealander in the first round, alongside her partner Lloyd Glasspool, the men’s doubles world No. 17 from the United Kingdom.

Alcaraz, already a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, became the youngest man ever to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open this year aged 22. However, a wrist injury has kept him off the court since April, meaning this will be his first competitive match back since the injury.

Williams, one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet, announced her comeback ahead of the grass-court season, with the 44-year-old having already faced Routliffe twice in doubles this year. The pair have split those encounters, with the head-to-head record sitting at one apiece.

Routliffe and Glasspool have the advantage of being doubles specialists, with Routliffe the current US Open women’s doubles champion, having won the event in 2023 and 2025. Glasspool’s best result was the 2025 Wimbledon men’s doubles title.

However, the recently revamped US Open mixed doubles competition is different in many ways from a standard Grand Slam tournament. Only 16 teams will compete in the main draw, with most of the pairings based on singles rankings instead of doubles.

The scoring is also shorter, with the tournament using the Fast4 format, where players need to win just four games instead of six to win a set, with a 10-point tiebreak played at one set all.

The US$1 million prize for the winning team gives the tournament a different flavour as well.

Routliffe and Glasspool had to battle past fellow doubles professionals Luisa Stefani and Neal Skupski in their first qualifying match, winning 4-1, 3-5, 10-7.

With very little turnaround time, they were due back on court to play their second qualifying match of the day, this time against Kristina Mladenovic and Marcelo Arevalo, with Arevalo currently the sixth-highest-ranked men’s doubles player in the world. Routliffe and Glasspool won another tight contest, 5-4(4), 2-4, 11-9.

Routliffe and Glasspool are one of three teams to earn entry into the main draw of the mixed doubles event through qualifying, played during Fan Week at the US Open in the week before the main tournament is scheduled to start.

Waiting for the qualifiers in the main draw are combinations of high-profile singles players, including Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka, Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula, and husband and wife Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils.

The only doubles specialists to have been granted direct entry were the defending champions, Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. The pair were also the only doubles specialists given direct entry into the first revamped event in 2025, having won the 2024 edition under the previous format, which was open to doubles specialists and was less publicised.

The US Open’s decision to turn the 2025 mixed doubles tournament into a singles-focused event was not without controversy, with many doubles players speaking out about being excluded from a doubles event, losing prize money and opportunity.

“It would be like if, at the Olympics, they didn’t let the actual high jumpers participate, and instead had basketball players compete in the high jump because it’s more ‘interesting’,” Errani said, before she and Vavassori won the 2025 edition.

While the 2026 version has added a qualifying draw for more doubles players to take part, the question about doubles specialists’ place in the sport continues to be a hot topic.

Routliffe and Glasspool will take on Williams and Alcaraz, likely in the early hours of Wednesday morning, August 26, live on Disney+ in New Zealand.