Rajeev Ram Bows Out as Skupski–Harrison Reach US Open Final

Rajeev Ram’s career ended not on a show court packed for a final, but on Louis Armstrong Stadium in a straight-sets defeat. Somehow, that felt exactly right to him.

The 40-year-old American played his last professional match as he and long-time partner Joe Salisbury lost 6-3, 6-4 to Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, a result that ended Salisbury’s bid to reach a fifth US Open final in six years and closed the book on one of the great modern doubles partnerships.

This was the pair who owned New York. Three consecutive US Open titles between 2021 and 2023. Four Grand Slam trophies together in total. A run of dominance that turned them into the benchmark team on hard courts.

On Friday, that era stopped.

Ram, reflective rather than regretful, took in the setting as much as the scoreline.

“Honestly, it couldn't be better,” he said after walking off Armstrong for the final time. “I know we've won the title and we've played on Ashe and for the final, but we've had some of our absolute most epic matches on that court, at Louis Armstrong.

“So first of all, it's at this tournament, it’s on that court. Joe was there. If you saw the poster that they made, more than half the pictures had him in it. So the whole thing, to me, it couldn't have been any better.”

The loss denied Salisbury another shot at history and cleared the path for a fresh chapter in men’s doubles at Flushing Meadows.

New-look British-American team into the title match

Standing on that new stage are Neal Skupski and Mackenzie Harrison, a British-American duo in their first season together who have wasted no time making themselves relevant at the very top of the sport.

They will face Krawietz and Puetz in Saturday’s US Open men’s doubles final, a clash between the fifth and sixth seeds and a meeting of two teams at very different points in their journeys.

Skupski and Harrison arrived on tour as a partnership only this year and immediately started tearing up the script. In just their second tournament together, they stormed through the Australian Open draw to lift the trophy, becoming champions before many fans had even learned their names as a pair.

That early success has given their season a sharp edge. This is not a team feeling its way through the calendar. They know they can win majors together. New York offers them a second in the same year.

Germans chase missing piece of their partnership

Across the net, Krawietz and Puetz bring a very different profile: a long-established team with a packed résumé and one glaring omission.

They are the reigning 2024 ATP Finals champions, hardened by big stages and high-pressure moments, and they already know what it feels like to walk out for a US Open final. They did it in 2024 as well, only to fall short against Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.

The Grand Slam column, though, still reads zero.

That absence now drives them. Their win over Salisbury and Ram was clinical, a reminder of how solid and cohesive they can be when they find their range on return and lock down their service games.

They also carry a small but telling advantage into this final: the head-to-head.

The two teams have met only once, earlier this season in Adelaide. The Germans came through that encounter 6-3, 2-6, 10-5, riding out a mid-match surge from Skupski and Harrison before pulling away in the match tie-break. It was a tight, nervy contest that hinted at how thin the margins could be when they meet again with a Grand Slam title on the line.

A final with history and hunger on both sides

Saturday’s showdown pitches the sport’s newest major-winning team against one of its most battle-tested pairings, a contrast in styles and storylines that fits the New York stage.

Skupski and Harrison arrive as fast-rising champions already with one Slam in their pocket this season. Krawietz and Puetz come in as seasoned operators still chasing the one prize that would complete their partnership.

Ram and Salisbury once owned this court and this fortnight. Now the canvas is clear for a different duo to write their own New York trilogy—or finally claim the title that has twice slipped away.