By Chris Oddo | Friday September 9, 2016
Laura Siegemund and Mate Pavic swept through the mixed doubles draw without the loss of a set.
Photo Source: USTA
Laure Siegemund of Germany and Mate Pavic had never teamed up before this year’s U.S. Open, but they quickly developed chemistry in time to race to the mixed doubles title without the loss of a set.
More: U.S. Open Men's Semifinals, By the Numbers
Pavic, from Croatia, and Siegemund, from Germany, each won their first Grand Slam crown by defeating No. 7-seeded Americans CoCo Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram, 6-4, 6-4 on Friday on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The pair had never met before before joining forces at New York. It was a situation akin to a blind date, and Pavic joked that he had very few choices of partners before the sign-up with reporters after the pair won the title.
"I was stuck with her," he said.
Siegemund further elaborated on the pair's unlikely meeting: "It's really kind of a blind date," she said. "Honestly, I didn't know him before. We don't have too many combined events and I'm just starting to play the big ones, combined events. I have never seen him or heard his name... It was still a week until the first match of mixed, so I was hoping that someone would, you know, trust me that I would maybe get better. He was the only one that was very relaxed about the situation and also didn't have a partner yet."
It turned out better than Siegemund or Pavic could have ever imagined.
"I have a great partner. Now I know him a little bit better," Siegemund said during the trophy ceremony. "Our games match. He's a great server. Any girl would like that, I guess."