Serena Williams returns a shot against Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns during a women's doubles match at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament. File
| Photo Credit: AP
Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz will open the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament against a team that features the reigning women's doubles champion.Williams and Alcaraz will face Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool on Tuesday (August 25, 2026) in the first round of the championship, which will be Williams' first match at the U.S. Open since 2022.Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic might have an even tougher draw. The top seeds, based on having the lowest combined singles ranking in the 16-team field, face the team of Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten — who are the No. 1-ranked doubles players on their respective tours.The first round and quarterfinals are on Tuesday (August 25). The semifinals and final are Wednesday (August 26).Williams and Alcaraz were drawn to face one of the teams that emerged from the qualifying tournament that was held on Monday (August 24). That ended up being Routliffe and Glasspool, who won two matches, both requiring match tiebreakers, to secure their place in the main draw.Routliffe teamed with Gabriela Dabrowski to beat Siniakova and Taylor Townsend for last year's U.S. Open women's doubles title. They also won the championship in 2023.
