Danilina, Heliovaara win US Open mixed doubles title

NEW YORK (AP) — Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovaara won the U.S. Open mixed doubles championship Saturday, the first-time partners defeating top-seeded Americans Jessica Pegula and Austin Krajicek 6-3, 6-4.

The pair came together just before the tournament and quickly clicked, both picking up their first Grand Slam titles.

“I didn’t know you two weeks ago. Now I know you very well,” Heliovaara, a native of Finland who ranked in the top 10 of men's doubles earlier this year, told Danilina in the trophy ceremony after the match.

Pegula, ranked No. 3 in singles, hasn't been past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam in singles and lost in the 2022 French Open women's doubles final with American Coco Gauff. The teen was next on Arthur Ashe Stadium to face Aryna Sabalenka in the women's final.

Pegula and Gauff will share the No. 1 spot in the new women's doubles rankings on Monday.

Danilina, who is from Kazakhstan and won an NCAA title at the University of Florida in 2017, was in her second Grand Slam final. She and Beatriz Haddad Maia lost in the Australian Open women's doubles final in 2022.

With members of the Kazakhstan tennis federation in the stands watching, Danilina and Heliovaara edged ahead when they broke Krajicek's serve for a 5-4 lead in the second set. Heliovaara served it out, leaping in celebration after the final point.

Pegula and Krajicek were trying to become the first all-American team to win the U.S. Open mixed doubles title since Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock in 2011.

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