Just before the men’s and women’s singles and doubles began, US Open organisers hailed the success of their revamped mixed doubles event – which featured some of the planet's biggest singles stars but had pointedly snubbed specialist doubles teams.

Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defended their U.S. Open mixed doubles title Wednesday night, keeping a traditional team on top of a revamped event filled with singles stars

This wasn’t just a victory for Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. Their US Open mixed doubles title also felt like a victory for all doubles tennis players.