By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Desirae Krawczyk, an American player with Filipino descent, and British partner Joe Salisbury captured their first Grand Slam title by winning the French Open mixed doubles on Thursday in Paris.
The unseeded Krawczyk and Salisbury turned back Russian pair Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev, 2-6, 6-4, 10-5, after 76 minutes.
It was Krawcyzk’s first Grand Slam crown after finishing runner-up in last year’s women’s doubles with partner Alexa Guarachi of Chile. They lost to Hungary’s Timea Babos and France’s Kristina Mladenovic.
Salisbury, meanwhile, clinched his second Grand Slam title after winning the 2020 Australian Open Men’s Doubles with American Rajeev Ram.
Krawczyk and Salisbury opened their campaign with a bang, stunning fourth seed Yifan Xu and Brazil’s Bruno Soares, 6-4, 6-3, then followed it up with a 6-2, 7-6 (3), triumph over Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos and Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal.
Krawczyk and Salisbury, however, earned a free pass into the next round after winning the semifinals via default over Slovakia’s Filip Polasek and Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova
Born in the United States to a Polish father and a Filipina mother who hails from Cagayan, Krawczyk once saw action in the country when she competed as a 16-year-old in the Philippine Columbian Association Open in 2010.
She eventually won the women’s singles title at the expense of Christine Patrimonio.
She played for Arizona State University during her college days.
