Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori claimed a 7-6 (7-0) 7-5 victory to win the mixed doubles title at the US Open, ending unseeded all-American pair Taylor Townsend and Donald Young’s storybook run.
The victory gave five-times women’s doubles grand slam champion Errani and Vavassori their maiden grand slam mixed doubles title in only their third major tournament together after Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics.
Vavassori and Errani drew first blood and took a 6-5 lead as Townsend drilled a backhand long, but the Americans broke straight back to force a tiebreaker.
The third-seeded Italian duo blazed through the tiebreaker with ease, which appeared to fill them with confidence as they broke early in the second set to take a 3-1 lead.
Townsend and Young showed great spirit to break back and level at 4-4, but in similar fashion to the first set, their resistance was short-lived and the Italians broke in the final game to clinch victory.
Defeat marked the end of a long partnership for Townsend and Young, who have known each other since childhood and reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows in 2014, with 35-year-old Young set to retire from tennis and switch to pickleball.
It was more disappointment at the US Open for Townsend, who also reached the semi-finals of the women’s doubles alongside Katerina Siniakova, where they lost to Zhang Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic.
Townsend and her Czech partner won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon this year.
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