The 2026 US Open has officially begun at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the sport’s richest stage once again sorts winners and losers under a bright corporate spotlight. The field includes back-to-back women's champion Aryna Sabalenka, while Carlos Alcaraz has already competed at the venue this week and is set to face top seed Alexander Zverev if he hopes to go further. Venus Williams is in the tournament as a wild card for a second consecutive year after losing in the first round a year ago, and she is set to take on Sofia Kenin.
Who Gets the Stage
The opening day already handed out the usual hierarchy of advancement and elimination. No. 3 Jessica Pegula beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-2. No. 11 Marta Kostyuk beat Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-1. No. 18 Ekaterina Alexandrova beat McCartney Kessler 6-2, 6-2. No. 19 Jasmine Paolini beat Veronika Erjavec 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Kamilla Rakhimova beat No. 27 Barbora Krejcikova 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. No. 31 Leylah Fernandez beat Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-2. Polina Iatcenko beat Renata Zarazua 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-7). Donna Vekić beat Talia Gibson 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Lanlana Tararudee beat Elvina Kalieva 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2. Lucrezia Stefanini beat Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Xinyu Wang beat Emiliana Arango 6-4, 6-2. Karolína Plíšková beat Hanne Vandewinkel 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Katie Boulter beat Carol Young Suh Lee 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. No. 9 Elina Svitolina beat Solana Sierra 6-1, 6-2.
The bracket keeps moving, and the names at the top keep getting the best of the draw. That’s the machine here: rankings, seedings, wild cards, and the constant sorting of who gets access to the next round and who gets sent home.
What the Bottom of the Draw Pays
Some matches were still hanging when the day ended. Taylah Preston was playing Alycia Parks, with the score listed as 6-3, 6-3. Kimberly Birrell vs. Petra Marčinko was suspended. No. 26 Emma Navarro vs. Loïs Boisson was suspended. Venus Williams vs. Sofia Kenin was also listed.
The men’s singles bracket delivered its own set of hard numbers. No. 7 Daniil Medvedev beat Hugo Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. No. 18 Jiri Lehecka beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-2. No. 20 Tommy Paul beat Coleman Wong 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. No. 26 Arthur Rinderknech beat Sho Shimabukuro 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. Luca Van Assche beat No. 29 Cameron Norrie 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. Dino Prizmic beat Aleksandr Shevchenko 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. Yibing Wu beat Adam Walton 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 7-5. Daniel Merida Aguilar beat Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Kamil Majchrzak beat Hamad Medjedovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Lloyd Harris beat Jack Kennedy 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Toby Samuel beat Tomas Machac 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Jaume Munar beat Terence Atmane 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. Jaime Faria beat Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 1-6, 6-2. Denis Shapovalov beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Vit Kopriva 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Mariano Navone beat No. 4 Novak Djokovic 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Alexander Bublik beat J.J. Wolf 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Several men’s matches were suspended too: Thiago Agustin Tirante vs. Adrian Mannarino, Aleksandar Vukic vs. Rei Sakamoto, Martin Landaluce vs. Jacob Fearnley, Sebastian Gorzny vs. Raphael Collignon, and Alex Michelsen vs. Federico Cina.
What They’re Calling the Schedule
Day 2 is already laid out like a factory shift for the tennis calendar. The women’s singles bracket begins at 11 a.m. with Mananchaya Sawangkaew vs. Panna Udvardy, Sinja Kraus vs. No. 7 Karolina Muchova, Lilli Tagger vs. Tamara Korpatsch, No. 28 Sara Bejlek vs. Cristian Bucsa, Anhelina Kalinina vs. Himeno Sakatsume, Harriet Dart vs. Peyton Stearns, Elsa Jacquemot vs. No. 25 Marie Bouzkova, and Qinwen Zheng vs. Kristian Liutova. At 11:30 a.m., No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka plays Camila Osorio.
The rest of the day is packed with more matches at 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m., with No. 8 Iga Swiatek playing Wang Xiyu at 7 p.m. and No. 13 Naomi Osaka playing Anastasia Zakharova at 9 p.m. The men’s singles Day 2 schedule starts at 11 a.m. with No. 22 Valentin Vacherot vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic, Marin Cilic vs. No. 23 Andrey Rublev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. No. 10 Arthur Fils. Roman Safiullin plays No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz at 1 p.m., and the day keeps rolling through No. 3 Felix Auger Aliassime vs. Rinky Hijikata at 5 p.m., No. 8 Ben Shelton vs. Tallon Griekspoor at 7 p.m., and Martin Damm Jr. vs. No. 11 Frances Tiafoe at 8:30 p.m.
The whole thing can be streamed on Fubo. Even the access point comes packaged, sold, and routed through another platform. The tournament runs on hierarchy from top seed to broadcast feed, and everybody else is expected to watch, wait, and pay attention.