Delray Beach, FL–
Liam Draxl and Jody Maginley didn’t expect to play the 2026 ATP Delray Beach Open until Wednesday morning. But as the tournament’s seventh alternate, the pair picked up two wins before falling to the experienced Austin Krajicek and Nikola Mektic 6-4 7-6 (1) on Saturday.
“The competition in doubles is getting stronger and stronger every year,” Mektic said. “They beat one of the best teams at the moment, who won in Dallas. And it just tells you how everything is even, everybody’s investing way, way more these days.”
On Friday, Draxl and Maginley stunned Albano Olivetti and Theo Arribage in the quarterfinals, snapping the French team’s nine-match winning streak. Notably, Maginley is the only player from Antigua and Barbuda with an ATP ranking, as he won his first ATP tour-level match this week.
Krajicek and Mektic, who each had reached the No. 1 spot in the doubles rankings in recent years, only faced one break point all match under the Saturday night lights. The pair broke serve late in the first set, winning it 6-4. They nearly went up a break in the second set, before unforced errors crept in.
The rest of the second set went according to serve, with Maginley getting hit by a ball twice and double faults draining the team’s momentum. Draxl was the only player on the doubles court to enter the singles draw, as he lost in the first round of qualifying to Zachary Svadja.
“There’s no easy match, no matter what alternate you are or anything,” Krajicek said. “So we’ll have to play our best tomorrow to have a chance.”
Krajicek won the 2023 French Open doubles crown, while Mektic won Wimbledon in 2021.
Sunday doubles final awaits
Krajicek and Mektic will face Ryan Seggerman and Benjamin Kittay in the final. The American pair took out No. 3 seeds James Tracy and Robert Cash 7-5 6-3 on Saturday afternoon.
The winning duo played college tennis together at the University of North Carolina. This tournament is Kittay’s Tour-level debut, and he was ranked outside the Top 1000 last season.
Notably, Seggerman was originally expected to play the ATP 500 event in Rio this week.
“Two weeks ago, there was almost little to no chance that I could have seen us here,” he said. “Just even sharing the court. The stars aligned, things fell the way they did.”
Krajicek, from Florida, will be the third American to represent the doubles final — scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“Phenomenal player, a really good kid too,” Krajicek said of Kittay. “So it’s gonna be exciting to compete against them.”
Main Photo Credit: Andrew Patron/Delray Beach Open
