The first round finally finished on Wednesday, five days after the main draw began, and it took three more seeds with it. Andrey Rublev, the 23rd seed, lost 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to Daniel Merida, who reaches the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. Alex Michelsen beat 16th seed Brandon Nakashima in straight sets in an all-American tie, and 12th seed Rafael Jodar was dismantled 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 by Yunchaokete Bu, a lucky loser. Forty-six matches were decided in all, the busiest day of the tournament.
Britain’s men are all out. Jan Choinski lost the first-round tie he had carried over from Tuesday, and Jacob Fearnley and Toby Samuel both went out in round two. Katie Boulter suffered the worst Grand Slam defeat of her career, beaten 6-1, 6-0 by seventh seed Karolína Muchová in 58 minutes on Louis Armstrong Stadium, broken in all seven of her service games. The one good British story was Francesca Jones, who came back to finish her rain-interrupted first-rounder against Magda Linette and won it 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 for only the second Grand Slam win of her career.
Day 5 completes the second round with 32 matches. The Arthur Ashe night session is the pick of it: Coco Gauff against Paula Badosa, followed by top seed Alexander Zverev against Quentin Halys. Iga Świątek opens the Grandstand, Félix Auger-Aliassime meets Karen Khachanov in the best men’s match of the day, and Britain is down to two qualifiers: Harriet Dart and Jones.
Catch up in our Day 4 report, and see the wider picture in the US Open 2026 preview, the outright betting tips and our tournament predictions. Build your own bracket in the men’s draw predictor or the women’s draw predictor. Today’s slip is in our US Open Day 5 acca tips.
Day 4 Results: Rublev Falls, Boulter Routed
Three men’s seeds went out, the first round was completed at last, and half of the second round went into the book.
| Match | Result | Score |
| Merida d. Rublev (23) | Into a Grand Slam third round for the first time | 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Michelsen d. Nakashima (16) | All-American, in straight sets | 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Bu d. Jodar (12) | A lucky loser routs the 12th seed (first round) | 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 |
| Navone d. Berrettini | The man who beat Djokovic wins again | 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) |
| Alcaraz (2) d. Faria | Dropped the opening set, then took over | 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 |
| Shelton (8) d. Hurkacz | Two of the biggest serves in the draw | 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 |
| Medvedev (7) d. Gorzny | Comfortable | 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 |
| Tiafoe (11) d. Sakamoto | Straight sets | 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-5 |
| Tsitsipas d. Harris | Recovered from a one-sided first-set tie-break | 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-4 |
| Bublik (15) d. Mannarino | Three quick sets | 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 |
| Paul (20) d. Prizmić | Through in four | 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 |
| Vacherot (22) d. Majchrzak | Four sets | 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 |
| Lehečka (18) d. Samuel | British qualifier out | 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 |
| Etcheverry (27) d. Fearnley | Fearnley out in four | 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 |
| van de Zandschulp d. Choinski | Britain’s last man in the first round falls (first round) | 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(5) |
| de Minaur (6) d. Guerrieri | Straight sets (first round) | 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 |
| Shapovalov d. Van Assche | Through in three | 6-0, 6-4, 7-6(7) |
Sixteen women’s second-round ties were completed and the last five first-rounders finished.
| Match | Result | Score |
| Muchová (7) d. Boulter | Boulter’s worst Grand Slam loss, in 58 minutes | 6-1, 6-0 |
| Sabalenka (1) d. Iatcenko | Untroubled | 6-1, 6-1 |
| Pegula (3) d. Kenin | Comfortable | 6-3, 6-1 |
| Nosková (6) d. Tararudee | Straight sets | 6-4, 6-2 |
| Svitolina (9) d. Joint | Survived a second-set tie-break | 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4 |
| Kostyuk (11) d. Stephens | Through in two | 6-1, 7-5 |
| Shnaider (15) d. Plíšková | Needed a second-set tie-break | 6-1, 7-6(4) |
| Cirstea (16) d. Parry | Straight sets | 6-2, 7-5 |
| Alexandrova (18) d. Birrell | Three sets | 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 |
| Paolini (19) d. Stefanini | All-Italian | 6-4, 6-1 |
| Kalinskaya (21) d. Wang | Three sets | 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 |
| Navarro (26) d. McNally | Came from a set down | 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 |
| Li (29) d. Vekić | Three sets, a second-set tie-break | 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4 |
| Fernandez (31) d. Sawangkaew | Straight sets | 6-4, 6-1 |
| Townsend d. Preston | One-sided | 6-1, 6-1 |
| Maria d. Ostapenko (30) | Seed out after taking the first set (first round) | 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 |
| Badosa d. Kasatkina | Sets up today’s tie with Gauff (first round) | 6-1, 6-4 |
| Jones d. Linette | Second Grand Slam win of her career (first round) | 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 |
| Jovic (14) d. Frech | Sets up an all-qualifier tie with Jones (first round) | 7-5, 6-3 |
How Day 4’s bets landed
Two of the three named best bets came in. Karolína Muchová beat Boulter, and did it far more emphatically than the 1/3 price implied, and Ben Shelton came through Hubert Hurkacz in four. The third went down: Matteo Berrettini was beaten in four sets by Mariano Navone, who has now taken out Novak Djokovic and a former Wimbledon finalist in the same week.
The two slips carried over from Day 3 both landed. Alex de Minaur completed the Seeds Slip and the Straight Sets Sweep with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over Andrea Guerrieri, which was exactly what both needed. The Long-Shot went down when Daria Kasatkina lost to Paula Badosa and Jan Choinski lost to Botic van de Zandschulp.
Day 4’s own three slips were a write-off. The Seeds Slip had Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev in the book and fell at the last leg on Andrey Rublev. The Straight Sets Sweep died immediately when Alcaraz dropped the opening set to Jaime Faria, with Sabalenka and Linda Nosková both winning 2-0 behind it. The British Slip lost all three legs: Katie Boulter did not win a game until the second set, and Jacob Fearnley and Choinski were both beaten. Three from three down is the worst day of the tournament so far.
US Open 2026 Day 5 order of play
Arthur Ashe Stadium (day session, from 4:30pm BST)
- [13] Naomi Osaka v Kateřina Siniaková
- [9] Taylor Fritz v Mattia Bellucci
Arthur Ashe Stadium (night session, from midnight BST)
- Paula Badosa v [4] Coco Gauff
- [1] Alexander Zverev v Quentin Halys
Louis Armstrong Stadium (day session, from 4pm BST)
- [3] Félix Auger-Aliassime v Karen Khachanov
- Oleksandra Oliynykova v [17] Alexandra Eala
Louis Armstrong Stadium (night session, from midnight BST)
- Gaël Monfils v [14] Learner Tien
- Jessica Bouzas Maneiro v [2] Elena Rybakina
Grandstand (from 4pm BST)
- [8] Iga Świątek v Nadia Podoroska
- Lilli Tagger v [10] Amanda Anisimova
- Tristan Schoolkate v [5] Flavio Cobolli
Grandstand (not before 9:30pm BST)
- Botic van de Zandschulp v [6] Alex de Minaur
Stadium 17 (from 4pm BST)
- [22] Madison Keys v Anna Bondar
- Dane Sweeny v [13] Lorenzo Musetti
- [5] Mirra Andreeva v Eva Lys
Stadium 17 (not before 9pm BST)
- [14] Iva Jovic v Francesca Jones
Outer courts (from 4pm BST)
- Court 5: Jan-Lennard Struff v [24] Francisco Cerúndolo
- Court 5: [28] Alexander Blockx v Marco Trungelliti
- Court 5: [32] Maria Sakkari v Yuliia Starodubtseva
- Court 6: Zachary Svajda v Arthur Gea
- Court 6: [24] Anastasia Potapova v Léolia Jeanjean
- Court 6: Cristina Bucsa v Himeno Sakatsume
- Court 7: Alexei Popyrin v [25] Alejandro Tabilo
- Court 7: [31] Zizou Bergs v Jesper de Jong
- Court 7: Maria Timofeeva v [23] Elise Mertens
- Court 11: [17] Jakub Menšík v Jurij Rodionov
- Court 11: Harriet Dart v [25] Marie Bouzková
- Court 12: [21] Luciano Darderi v Dalibor Svrčina
- Court 12: Yunchaokete Bu v Michael Zheng
- Court 12: Zheng Qinwen v Yulia Putintseva
- Court 13: Benjamin Bonzi v [32] Ignacio Buse
- Court 13: Nikola Bartůňková v Tatjana Maria
Félix Auger-Aliassime v Karen Khachanov
The best men’s match of the day. Félix Auger-Aliassime is the third seed and a two-time semi-finalist here, but he needed nearly three and a half hours and four sets to get past Rinky Hijikata in the first round, which is not the start a title contender wants. Karen Khachanov is a former US Open semi-finalist himself, came through his opener comfortably, and has won two of their four previous meetings. That is a level head-to-head, and it makes the price on the Canadian look short rather than generous. The case for him is simply that his serve is the bigger weapon and his return has improved; the case against is that Khachanov is the kind of heavy, flat hitter who has troubled him before.
Best bet: Félix Auger-Aliassime to win — around 2/5 with William Hill (approx odds).
Alexander Zverev v Quentin Halys
Alexander Zverev is the top seed by default after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal, and he has already had his scare: four hours and 53 minutes against Lorenzo Sonego, from two sets to one down. Quentin Halys has reached the second round at Flushing Meadows for the first time and has met Zverev twice, losing both while making him work. The German’s problem this fortnight has been closing matches out rather than winning them, and a night session on Ashe against a big-serving Frenchman is not a free pass. It is still a clear enough call on class and on the head-to-head.
Best bet: Alexander Zverev to win — around 1/6 with Betway (approx odds).
Coco Gauff v Paula Badosa
The tie of the night, and the one where the market and the history disagree. Coco Gauff is the fourth seed and the 2023 champion, and she is around 1/4 to win. Paula Badosa, a former world No. 2 and a quarter-finalist here, has won five of their eight meetings, including the last two. Badosa arrived at this second round by beating Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-4, which is a better win than the scoreline suggests. Gauff’s forehand remains the shot that decides her matches in both directions, and Badosa’s flat, early ball-striking is precisely the pattern that has drawn errors from her before. A short price on the player who is behind in the head-to-head is not a price to take.
Best bet: Paula Badosa to win — the outsider on the night despite leading the head-to-head, priced up at Betfred (approx odds, and they move fast on Ashe).
US Open 2026 Day 5 acca
Four favourites from the back half of the second round. Full reasoning and two alternative slips are in the US Open 2026 Day 5 acca tips.
| Leg | Selection | Approx odds |
| 1 | Alexander Zverev to beat Quentin Halys | 1/6 |
| 2 | Iga Świątek to beat Nadia Podoroska | Odds-on |
| 3 | Elena Rybakina to beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro | Odds-on |
| 4 | Alex de Minaur to beat Botic van de Zandschulp | Odds-on |
Alex de Minaur is 4-0 against van de Zandschulp and won their most recent meeting in Rotterdam this year, though the Dutchman took him to a deciding set there and has just beaten a Briton in straight sets. Iga Świątek and Elena Rybakina are both prohibitive favourites, and Rybakina has the world No. 1 ranking in view as well as a third major. We are quoting a price only on the leg we can stand behind at the time of writing; the other three are all odds-on and worth checking before you place anything.
Place this bet with: Back this acca with Betway
How to watch US Open 2026
The US Open is live on Sky Sports and NOW in the UK, with every court streamed. Day-session play starts at 4pm BST and the Arthur Ashe night session begins at midnight BST. Full broadcast details are in our how to watch US Open 2026 guide. All of our coverage sits on the US Open 2026 hub.
Best bookmakers for US Open 2026
More US Open 2026 Coverage
All of our US Open 2026 coverage in one place: daily previews, accas and the essentials:
- US Open 2026 hub
- US Open 2026 preview
- US Open 2026 outright betting tips
- US Open 2026 predictions
- US Open 2026 qualifying
- US Open 2026 men’s draw predictor
- US Open 2026 women’s draw predictor
- US Open 2026 prize money
- US Open winners: every champion
- US Open final: dates and how to watch
- How to watch US Open 2026
- Feature: the Big Three streak ends
- Feature: Arthur Fery’s rise
Daily predictions & order of play: Day 2 · Day 3 · Day 4 · Day 5
Daily acca tips: Day 2 · Day 3 · Day 4 · Day 5
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