For the first time in his career, Alexander Zverev entered a Grand Slam tournament as the No. 1 seed. However, the ambition to win his second major title in his career is not easy for him.
In 2 consecutive matches at the US Open 2026, the German player had to go through 5 sets.
If against Lorenzo Sonego in round 1 it took 4 hours and 55 minutes, then against Quentin Halys on the morning of September 4 (Vietnam time), Zverev stood on the field for 4 hours and 47 minutes to win a ticket to round 3.
The match started favorably for Zverev, when he broke the French opponent's serve in game 9 to win 6-4 set 1.
Set 2 also had a fairly balanced diễn biến, but in a short period of losing self-control, Zverev let his opponent ranked 51st in the world break and win set 2.
She asked the 29-year-old to break right in the first game of set 3, but then let Halys break serve twice, taking advantage of the serve games to lead 4-1.
At this point, the 2026 Roland Garros champion woke up, winning 3 consecutive games, equalizing the score, before the 2 players competed and dragged each other into a tie-break. Here, Zverev won 7-3.
Set 4 had no breaks for both players, but the scenario in the tie-break reversed, when Halys won 7-3, forcing them to enter the decisive set 5.
The French player was exhausted when the match was past midnight (1pm – Vietnam time), and let Zverev get 2 breaks, ending set 5 with a score of 6-3.
Zverev's opponent in the 3rd round is 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo, the Chilean player who came back to beat Alexei Popyrin after 4 sets.
The next surprise of the US Open 2026 is the 3rd seed, Felix Auger-Aliassime losing to Karen Khachanov 7-6 (5), 3-6, 2-6, 2-6. The Canadian player became the fourth seed in the Top 10 at this year's tournament to be eliminated early, after Novak Djokovic, Arthur Fils and Alex de Minaur.
Vietnamese-born player, Learner Tien, eliminated veteran Gal Monfils after only 3 sets to get a ticket to the 3rd round, facing Jakub Mensik.
In the women's singles event, the top seeds still showed superior strength.
Elena Rybakina (seed number 2) only took 1 hour and 8 minutes to beat Bouzas Maneiro 6-2, 6-4, and will face Yuliia Starodubtseva - a Ukrainian player who came from behind to eliminate Maria Sakkari.
2 young players Mirra Andreeva (5) and Alexandra Eala (17) were also not inferior when they respectively defeated Eva Lys 6-0, 6-2 and Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-1, 6-4.
Andreeva and Eala are likely to clash in the quarterfinals, but before that, they need to overcome strong opponents such as Amanda Anisimova (10) and Coco Gauff (4) in the 4th round.
