After his first-round win at the US Open Jakub Mensik said joked that he hadn’t played mixed doubles since he was around nine years old. A day later, he fired an ace past Flavio Cobolli to clinch the 2026 US Open mixed doubles championship title.
Mensik and Karolina Muchova defeated Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 for the title just before midnight on Wednesday, capping the three-day tournament with their fourth win, and their third in a match tiebreak.
“I think at the end the matching outfits made the difference for us,” Muchova said, referring to the pair’s burgundy-colored matching Adidas kits. “We came out just having fun at mixed doubles, now we are standing here with the trophy.”
“It was such great fun,” Mensik said. “It was amazing to play and start the US Open like this. It’s really great preparation for all of us.”
The Czechs saved two match points in the semifinal against Andrey Rublev and Mirra Andreeva, rallying from 9-7 in the match tiebreak.
Against Bencic and Cobolli the Czechs pulled away in the match tiebreak after losing a lopsided middle set.
“Belinda, you are a gift,” Cobolli said. “I love to play with you. I wish you good luck for the tournament, you deserve to win a Grand Slam someday.”
“It was an absolutely mesmerizing atmosphere,” Bencic said. “The format really works.”
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