Racquets and emotions ignite the 2026 United States Tennis Open that is taking place in Flushing Meadows in the New York county of Queens.
On a day marked by repeated interruptions due to rain, the German Alexander Zverev, the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the American Coco Gauff, the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo and the Spanish Jessica Bouzas got their ticket for the second round of the 2026 US Open that takes place in New York.
Delays due to weather problems forced, on the other hand, the postponement of the matches of the Spaniards Rafa Jódar, who would debut in this tournament, and Paula Badosa, who was two points away from winning the Australian Daria Kasatkina when she was informed that she would have to wait until Wednesday to complete the duel. This day also ends the duel of the Spanish Carlos Taberner, who was losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and 2-1 against the Belgian Zizou Bergs.
For his part, Zverev, the first seed, was on the ropes against the Italian Lorenzo Sonego, world number 89, and needed to cancel a break point in the fifth set before being able to seal passage to the round. He ended up winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(6), 7-5 and 6-4.
The German tennis player avoided becoming the first number one seed to be eliminated in the first round of a ‘major’ in the last 23 years.
He needed four hours and 53 minutes to eliminate Sonego in a match played on a semi-deserted Arthur Ashe court and ended a few minutes before 2:00 a.m. local time.
Frenchman Quentin Halys, executioner of Argentine Facundo Díaz Acosta in the first round, awaits him. On the horizon he has one between the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo and the Australian Alexei Popyrin.
Victories for Bouzas and Cerúndolo
Jessica Bouzas, world number 105, advanced to the second round after winning with authority 6-3 and 6-4 over the Czech Darija Vidmanova, number 75. Bouzas will now face the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, second favorite, who defeated the American Thea Frodin, number 585.
On the other hand, the also Spanish Kaitlin Quevedo said goodbye to the tournament after losing 6-4, 6-4 against the Belgian Elise Mertens, twentieth seed.
Among the Latin Americans, the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo, number 25 in the world ranking, beat the Austrian Filip Misolic, number 537, 6-4, 6-3 and 7-5, in two hours and 24 minutes, in a match that started several hours late due to rain.
Cerúndolo managed eight breaks in 16 remaining games and took the initiative throughout the match, although he let a 5-2 lead slip away in the third set before sealing the victory with a new break.
His next rival is the German Jan-Lennard Struff, number 44, who eliminated the Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3.
Juan Manuel Cerúndolo lost to the Frenchman Arthur Gea 6-3, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3 and 6-1, while the Frenchman Gael Monfils came back against the Paraguayan Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-0.
In the women’s draw, the Russian Mirra Andreeva defeated the Polish Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-2; American Madison Keys eliminated Alina Korneeva 6-4, 7-5; and fellow American Coco Gauff beat Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez 6-3, 6-4.
Sabalenka overwhelms in debut
The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka started her defense of the US Open title on the right foot after overwhelming the Colombian Camila Osorio in the first round and adding her fourteenth consecutive victory in the New York competition.
Sabalenka, world number 1, beat Osorio (n.59) 6-2 and 6-4 in 1 hour and 27 minutes of play.
The Belarusian, who seeks to become the third woman to win the New York tournament three times in a row, after the Americans Chris Evert (1975-1978) and Serena Williams (2012-2014), dominated the match from the rest and did not give the Colombian any options.
Sabalenka broke Osorio five times, three of them in the first set, which counteracted the two times she lost serve.
Osorio only registered 57% effectiveness on the first serve and won 25% of the points played with his second serve. He had the opportunity to go ahead at 2-3 and two break points in the second set, but he missed them and ended up falling after giving up his serve at 4-4.
Sabalenka’s next rival is the Russian Polina Iatcenko (n.160), coming from the classification, and who defeated the Mexican Renata Zarazúa (n.74) in the first round.
For Osorio, this is his fourth consecutive elimination in the first round of the New York tournament. His best result was the second round that he reached in 2021 and 2022 in his first two participations.
