An excitable atmosphere continued as the fans – who paid between $25 (£18.50) and $145 (£107) for what British doubles player Jamie Murray described as a “glorified exhibition” – danced to tunes played by an on-court DJ and acted up when appearing on the big screen.
Both sets of players smiled and laughed throughout, further illustrating how the stars are using the event to tune up for their greater priority of the singles.
For some, it underlined the view of the doubles specialists sidelined that a Grand Slam tournament had lost value.
Pegula, who has been ranked world number one in the women’s doubles, and Draper were also a scratch pairing but had too much quality against a pair who are less experienced in tour-level doubles.
For Draper, it was third time lucky – having seen previous planned partners Zheng Qinwen and Paula Badosa withdraw through injury.
Pegula and Draper’s mutual will-to-win was more evident than some of the pairings, looking focused as they later beat Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev to reach the last four.
The Russian pair earlier knocked out 24-time major singles champion Novak Djokovic and his fellow Serb Olga Danilovic in the first round,
There was the loss of another star name before Tuesday’s play started, when men’s world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew through illness.
