New York – Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski advanced to the third round of the US Open men’s doubles tournament on Sunday, continuing their strong partnership run at the year’s final Grand Slam.
Salisbury and Skupski’s progression is a meaningful boost for British tennis, adding to the nation’s representation in the latter stages of the tournament. The pair, consistently ranked among the world’s elite doubles teams, will now face a challenging opponent in the next round as they aim for a deep run at Flushing meadows. Their success comes amidst mixed results for other British players in the doubles competitions.
Elsewhere, Marcus Willis also booked his spot in round three, partnering poland’s Karol Drzewiecki to a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (13-11) victory over Jackson Withrow and John Peers.After winning the second set, Willis and Drzewiecki saved three break points early in the third and held their serve throughout to force a tie-break. Withrow and Peers then spurned three match points while Willis and Drzewiecki also lost a match point at 10-9 before converting at the second attempt.
However, Luke Johnson and Dutch partner Sander Arends exited in round two, losing to Argentinian pair Tomas Etcheverry and Camilo Ugo 7-5 7-6 (8-6).
Meanwhile, British interest in the women’s doubles ended when Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter lost to 12th seeds Zhang Shuai and Ekatarina Alexandrova in three sets.
The British pair came from a set down to send the match to a decider and saved two break points in the second game of the third set.
However, with Kartal and Boulter serving to stay in the match at 5-4, Shuai and Alexandrova took the game to deuce before converting their first match point to close out a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory and set up a meeting with wildcard pairing Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez.
