Neal Skupski finally had his Flushing Meadows ending. This time, it came with a smash, not a scar.
The Briton, alongside American partner Christian Harrison, captured the US Open men’s doubles title with a 6-4 7-6 (8-6) victory over Germany’s Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz, sealing a flawless run in New York without dropping a set. For a pairing that only came together this season, it is already a partnership built on hard courts and hard lessons.
From heartbreak to hard court redemption
Skupski walked back onto Arthur Ashe Stadium carrying more than just a racket bag. He carried two lost US Open finals and the memory of three squandered championship points 12 months ago, when he and Joe Salisbury let the title slip away. Go back another year and there was another defeat in the final, that time with Wesley Koolhof. Flushing Meadows had become the scene of his most painful near-misses.
The story shifted this season. Salisbury’s break from tennis because of anxiety forced Skupski to find a new partner. He turned to Harrison, a talented but injury-hit American whose career has been a stop-start battle against his own body as much as his opponents. They arrived in Melbourne in January as a fresh team and walked away with the Australian Open trophy in their very first Grand Slam together.
Now they have added New York to that fast-growing résumé.
One break, one chance, no hesitation
The final itself was tight, cagey, and high-quality. One break decided the opening set. At 3-3, with both teams holding firm on serve, Harrison ripped a backhand winner down the line, a clean strike that pierced through Puetz and Krawietz and gave the fifth seeds the crucial 4-3 lead. They did not look back, closing out the set with authority.
Puetz and Krawietz, the sixth seeds, know this stage and this surface. They dug in, kept their first-serve numbers high, and refused to offer up a single break point in the second set. The match turned into a battle of nerve and nuance, with quick hands at the net and razor-thin margins in the tramlines.
The pressure built with every hold. Harrison, buoyed by a partisan Arthur Ashe crowd eager to see a home player lift a title, matched Skupski’s composure. The German pair pushed, probed, and waited for the moment to pounce.
It came in the tie-break.
A cruel net cord, then a decisive smash
At 5-5 in the breaker, Puetz and Krawietz got the sort of luck that can flip a final. A return clipped the tape, died on the other side, and wrong-footed Harrison completely. Set point to the Germans. The tension on Ashe spiked.
Skupski and Harrison did not flinch. They saved the set point, turned the noise in the stadium into fuel, and immediately swung the momentum back their way. With the crowd roaring, they earned championship point.
Skupski, who had seen this moment slip away before, grabbed it with both hands. A smash at the net, clean and emphatic, ended the contest. He dropped to his knees, the weight of two lost finals and one brutal collapse finally lifting off his shoulders, before turning to embrace Harrison.
“I don't know what to say really, I'm still in shock. The speech gets a little bit easier once you've won,” Skupski admitted on court, letting the emotion seep through. He didn’t need to say much more. The arc of his last three years in New York spoke loudly enough. “Losing twice and having championship points in the final last year was a tough part of my career, but it's amazing what a year does in tennis.”
A career reshaped in 12 months
For Skupski, this title is more than just a trophy. It is his third men’s doubles Grand Slam crown, after Wimbledon 2023 with Koolhof and this season’s Australian Open with Harrison. Add in two mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2022 with Desirae Krawczyk, and his record now reads like that of a fully established Grand Slam specialist rather than a nearly man.
For Harrison, it is a landmark breakthrough on home soil, a validation of persistence after years on the fringes.
They did not just win the US Open. They dominated it, refusing to drop a set across the fortnight. In a draw full of established teams and proven champions, the new pairing walked through New York with the swagger of a duo that already knows how to close.
Skupski came back to the scene of his worst tennis memory and rewrote the ending. The question now is simple: with two majors already together this year, how far can this partnership go?
