
NEW YORK – There are always surprises in mixed doubles – especially at the US Open, it seems.
Remember when Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock, 19 and 18 at the time, ran the table and won the title in 2011?
They upset Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber in the second round on the way.
On Friday, in the first round of this year’s event, 22-year-old Christopher Eubanks and junior sensation Cori Gauff upset the No. 3 seeds, Henri Kontinen and Hao-Ching Chan.
Gauff, the defending US Open junior champ and reigning French Open junior champion, is still just 14.
They did it in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. And they certainly didn’t do it in traditional doubles fashion, more often than not staying back at the baseline.
But Gauff, so much younger than the rest, was as poised as any of them. Kontinen is 28, and reached the Wimbledon final last year with Heather Watson. Chan, 24, reached the US Open mixed final last year with Michael Venus.
Here’s what it looked like.
Another American wild-card team, Taylor Townsend and Donald Young, didn’t fare as well. They were defeated by Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-5 in their first match.
On the last of a series of tough weather days, Townsend had just finished a long, tough match against No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko in singles, losing 6-4 in the third set, before returning to court for mixed.

Good crop of African-American players
Young and Townsend, despite an age difference, have been friends since childhood. Townsend is even coached by Young’s father, Donald. Sr. This is the fifth time they’ve teamed up for mixed at the US Open, they reached the semifinals in 2014.
Along with Eubanks and Gauff, they form part of an encouraging group of African-American players who are taking part.
Michael Mmoh will play, with Amanda Anisimova, on Friday against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray (another tough ask).
And Frances Tiafoe (beaten in the second round of singles Thursday by fellow Next-Gener Alex de Minaur of Australia), will team up with young Whitney Osuigwe against No. 2 seeds Oliver Marach of Austria and American Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Nicole Melichar.
“Dynamic Jew-O” eliminated
New Yorkers Jamie Loeb and Noah Rubin, the self-titled “Dynamic Jew-O”, had a tough one against No. 1 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Mate Pavic of Croatia.
They recovered well after being bageled (pardon the pun, okay?) in the first set. But they ultimately went down 6-0, 6-4.
Here are a VERY young Oudin and Sock, after they won their title.
Oudin turns 27 in a few weeks, Sock turns 26. Oudin is already retired and is around doing some media work at the tournament.
Sock, who lost in the second round of singles to Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia (the country, not the state), continues to scuffle this season after a great finish to 2017 and a leap into the top 10.
He is the No. 3 seed in the men’s doubles with Mike Sock.
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