Desirae Krawczyk Continues To Shine In Doubles At Wimbledon
by Luke Hanlon
(L-R) Neal Skupski (Great Britain) and Desirae Krawczyk celebrate after winning the mixed doubles final at The Championships, Wimbledon 2022 on July 7, 2022 in London.
No American had a more successful fortnight at Wimbledon than Desirae Krawczyk.
The 28-year-old from Palm Desert, California, has become one of the world’s most decorated mixed doubles players in recent years, winning that title at the three of the four Grand Slams last year — the French Open and US Open with Joe Salisbury of Great Britain, and Wimbledon with another Brit, Neal Skupski.
Krawczyk and Skupski made it back to the Wimbledon mixed doubles final on Thursday night and defeated Australians Matt Ebden and Sam Stosur in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
The duo of Krawczyk and Skupski became the first pairing to win back-to-back mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon since Czech siblings Cyril Suk and Helena Sukova won in 1996 and 1997.
Krawczyk was back on Centre Court on Friday night to play in the women’s doubles semifinals alongside fellow American Danielle Collins. They went toe-to-toe with the top-seeded duo of Elise Mertens of Belgium and Zhang Shuai of China but fell 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
The duo of Krawczyk and Collins didn’t lose a set in their first three matches, including a 6-4, 6-3 win over third-ranked duo Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico. They then defeated No. 11 Erin Routliffe of New Zealand and Alicja Rosolska of Poland in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, with their only lost set coming via a tiebreak.
The only other American to make it as far as Krawczyk at the All England Club this month was Olympian Rajeev Ram, who made it to the men’s doubles semifinals playing alongside Salisbury. The American-British duo were the top seed in the men’s doubles bracket but fell to No. 14 Matt Ebden and Max Purcell of Australia on Thursday.
In the men’s singles bracket, four Americans made it to the fourth round. The only one who advanced out of that round was No. 11 Taylor Fritz, who eventually lost to No. 2 Rafael Nadal 10-4 in a tiebreak after a five-set epic in the quarterfinals.
Amanda Anisimova was the only American to make it to the quarterfinals in the women’s singles bracket. The 20-year-old defeated fellow American No. 11 Coco Gauff in the third round before beating Harmony Tan of France in straight sets in the fourth round. She was eventually defeated by No. 16 Simona Halep of Romania in the quarterfinals.
Luke Hanlon #
Luke Hanlon is a sportswriter and editor based in Minneapolis. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.