NEW YORK — Alex Eala and Félix Auger-Aliassime have entered the 2026 US Open Mixed Doubles Championship, but appearing on Monday’s initial entry list does not put them in the main draw.
The pairing sits eighth on the 16-team list released by the United States Tennis Association, which is ordered by combined singles ranking. Only the top six teams by that measure when the entry window closes will be accepted directly.
Where the cut falls. The entry window closes at noon Eastern on Aug. 17. Six teams take main-draw places on combined singles ranking at that moment, eight more are awarded wild cards, and the final two advance from an eight-team qualifying draw on Aug. 24.
A No. 4 that is not enough. Auger-Aliassime is ranked fourth in the ATP rankings, the strongest men’s ranking on the entry list other than Alexander Zverev at No. 2. Eala is ranked 28th, the career high she reached after becoming the first Filipina to make the Wimbledon fourth round, and the lowest singles ranking held by any player in the top eight teams. Their combined figure of 32 sets their position on the list. Neither half is assessed on its own.
The same arithmetic works against better-known names further down. Taylor Townsend and Zverev sit tenth, four places below a team led by the world No. 4, because the combined total is the only ordering criterion the USTA applies.
Three weeks of movement. Eala is entered at the DC Open this week and is expected in Montreal for the National Bank Open, with the Cincinnati Open also falling inside the entry window. Results at those events will move both halves of the combined figure in either direction. Withdrawals from teams above them would lift the pairing toward the cut, while entries from higher-ranked combinations would push it further away. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the two highest-ranked men in the game, are absent from the initial list.
The routes that remain. Eight of the 16 main-draw places are wild cards awarded at the USTA’s discretion, and a pairing of a top-five man with the first Filipina to reach the second week at Wimbledon carries obvious appeal for an event built to fill Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the two-time defending champions, needed a wild card last year because their singles rankings were too low, and The Athletic has reported they are expected to receive one again. Qualifying offers two further places from a field of six direct entries and two wild cards.
USTA chief executive Craig Tiley said in a statement that the competition shows the sport at its best “anytime you can bring women and men together on the same team.”
The championship runs from Aug. 24 to 26 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with qualifying on the Monday and the main draw played across the following two days. Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic head the entry list as the only pairing with a combined singles ranking inside the top 10.
