Serena Williams, Carlos Alcaraz face tricky US Open mixed doubles first-round match

Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic also in the 16-team tournament that was overhauled last year to get top singles players to compete

Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz will open the US Open mixed doubles tournament against a duo that features the reigning women’s doubles champion.

Williams and Alcaraz will face Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool on Tuesday in the first round of the championship, which will be Williams’ first match at the US 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 Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten — who are the doubles world No 1s.

Williams and Alcaraz were drawn to face one of the teams that emerged from the qualifying tournament that was held Monday. 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 US Open women’s doubles title. They also won the championship in 2023.

Sabalenka and Djokovic had been slated to play Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe. But Tiafoe withdrew from mixed doubles after losing to Arthur Fils in the Cincinnati Open final on Sunday, opening the door for a team that lost in qualifying to earn a spot.