Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik Win $1 Million at US Open Mixed Doubles Final

Czech players Karolina Muchová and Jakub Menšík defeated Swiss player Belinda Bencic and her Italian partner Flavio Cobolli in a heated two-set match. They received $1 million in prize money thanks to the recent pool increase.

Because of the event’s fast-paced structure, the pair began their competition together on Tuesday afternoon and ended it late Wednesday night.

A Thrilling Final Match

The final match between the two pairs was heavily contested. Muchová and Menšík took the first set 6-3, and many fans thought the event could be over in straight sets.

However, Bencic and Cobolli had a massive comeback in the second set and won, with their opponents only taking home a single game. The two were so evenly matched that the points won (57-54), service points won (38-36), and first serve percentages (73%-78%) were nearly identical.

Per mixed doubles rules, the tied match went into a heated tiebreaker. The Swiss-Italian pair battled mightily, but Muchová and Menšík came out on top 10-6. In the end, the losing team’s strong serving technique could not match the power of the winning team’s returns.

First trophy lift of the 2026 US Open ✅ pic.twitter.com/b9kUSB7eem
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2026

The Road to the Finals

Muchová and Menšík’s first match in the mixed doubles event was against the French Kristina Mladenovic and her Salvadoran partner Marcelo Arévalo. The competition was fierce from the beginning, and the match ended after two sets and a hard-won tiebreaker (4-1, 2-4 [10-7]).

In the quarterfinal later that same day, the Czech team faced Americans Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro. The match ended much faster, though, this time finishing in straight sets (4-1, 5-3).

Muchová and Menšík had their most difficult matchup against neutral athletes Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev. The fierce pair drove the first set to its own tiebreaker (5-4 [8-6]) and took home the second set 5-3. The match was decided by a fierce tiebreaker that ended 11-9.

Past Mixed Doubles Performances

Neither Muchová nor Menšík had ever played an official mixed doubles match before they were partnered for the 2026 US Open. The men’s player even said he had not played even an informal mixed doubles game since he was nine years old.

“It sounds crazy, huh," Menšík said. “My first mixed doubles, 100%-win rate, so I will finish my career, I guess. It was a fun event…Obviously [having] gone this far, both of us are very happy we could lift the trophy."

What This Means for the Main Draw

Mixed doubles is obviously very different from men’s singles or women’s singles, but the Czech team’s win last night still has positive connotations for both players as they enter the main draw at Flushing Meadows.

Muchová had been out of commission for over six weeks after undergoing a small surgery following her Wimbledon final defeat by Linda Noskova (6-2, 5-7, 6-3). However, these four successful matches demonstrate that the 30-year-old player is more than ready for competitive play.

Menšík meanwhile had a career high earlier this year, reaching an ATP singles ranking of world No. 12 at the beginning of March. He then made it to his first Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open before losing to soon-to-be champion Alexander Zverev in four sets (7-5, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6). The 20-year-old has not had as much success since, but this first Grand Slam title may signify a change in fortune.

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