Serena Williams marked her return to competitive tennis in New York with an entertaining, if brief, run in the US Open's mixed doubles event alongside Carlos Alcaraz. Their pairing drew huge crowds to Arthur Ashe Stadium and provided both players with valuable milestones: Williams's first appearance at the tournament in four years, and Alcaraz's first competitive match since injuring his wrist in April. The event's revamped mixed doubles format has proved divisive, criticised for prioritising singles stars over specialist doubles pairs, but the star pairing's popularity underlined its box-office appeal.

Alcaraz and Williams beat Britain's Lloyd Glasspool and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe 5-3 4-1 in front of around 15,000 fans, before losing in the quarter-finals to Italy's Flavio Cobolli and Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 5-4 (7-4) 4-1. Williams, 44, previously won the US Open mixed doubles title in 1998, five years before Alcaraz was born, while Alcaraz admitted to nerves playing alongside the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion. Williams will not compete in the singles draw, having last played that format at Wimbledon before a knee injury, but said returning to Arthur Ashe Stadium was something she "never expected".