Brits Salisbury & Skupski reach doubles third round

US Open 2025

Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 24 August-7 September

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app

British pair Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski advanced to the third round of the US Open men's doubles with a three-set victory over unseeded Americans Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick.

The sixth seeds are searching for their first major title together after previously reaching the French Open final earlier this year.

Salisbury won three successive men's doubles titles at Flushing Meadows between 2021 and 2023 alongside American Rajeev Ram, including beating Skupski and then partner Wesley Koolhof in 2022.

The British duo, who had come through their first-round match in straight sets, did not have it all their own way on Sunday.

After winning the first set 6-4 and breaking serve in the opening game of the second, they then lost six consecutive games to send the match into a decider.

Exsted and Woestendick converted three of their nine break points in the second set and saved three out of four on their own serves.

However, Salisbury and Skupski wrestled back control with a break to love in the fourth game of the deciding set and only dropped four points on serve to complete a 6-4 1-6 6-3 victory.

Elsewhere, Britain's Marcus Willis also booked his spot in round three, partnering Poland's Karol Drzewiecki to a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (13-11) victory over Jackson Withrow and John Peers.

After winning the second set, Willis and Drzewiecki saved three break points early in the third and held their serve throughout to force a tie-break.

Withrow and Peers then spurned three match points while Willis and Drzewiecki also lost a match point at 10-9 before converting at the second attempt.

However, Luke Johnson and Dutch partner Sander Arends exited in round two, losing to Argentinian pair Tomas Etcheverry and Camilo Ugo 7-5 7-6 (8-6).

Meanwhile, British interest in the women's doubles ended when Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter lost to 12th seeds Zhang Shuai and Ekatarina Alexandrova in three sets.

The British pair came from a set down to send the match to a decider and saved two break points in the second game of the third set.

However, with Kartal and Boulter serving to stay in the match at 5-4, Shuai and Alexandrova took the game to deuce before converting their first match point to close out a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory and set up a meeting with wildcard pairing Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez.