The first half of the third round took five more seeds out. Tommy Paul came from two sets to one down to beat 15th seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3, and Stefanos Tsitsipas recovered from losing the opening set 6-2 to knock out 18th seed Jiří Lehečka. On the women’s side Emma Navarro beat seventh seed Karolína Muchová 6-3, 7-5, Anna Kalinskaya put out ninth seed Elina Svitolina, and Taylor Townsend beat 15th seed Diana Shnaider to reach the fourth round. Sixteen of the 31 men’s seeds and 19 of the 32 women’s are still standing going into Saturday.
Carlos Alcaraz was the most convincing winner of the day, beating Yibing Wu 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, and Ben Shelton came through four sets against Denis Shapovalov. Both are now into a fourth round that already has its ties: Alcaraz meets Paul, Shelton meets Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev meets Frances Tiafoe and Alex Michelsen meets Tomás Martín Etcheverry.
Day 7 completes the third round with the other 16 matches. Top seed Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz headline Arthur Ashe alongside Coco Gauff, Iga Świątek and Elena Rybakina play on the Grandstand, and one section of the men’s draw has come so far apart that a wild card plays a lucky loser for a place in the last 16.
Catch up in our Day 6 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 7 acca tips.
Day 6 Results: Five More Seeds Gone
The first half of the third round, in full.
| Match | Result | Score |
| Alcaraz (2) d. Wu | The defending champion’s cleanest match of the week | 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 |
| Shelton (8) d. Shapovalov | Two big left-handers, two tie-breaks, four sets | 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 |
| Paul (20) d. Bublik (15) | Two sets to one down, then took the last two sets 6-1, 6-3 | 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3 |
| Tsitsipas d. Lehečka (18) | Lost the opening set 6-2, then took control | 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-1 |
| Medvedev (7) d. Rinderknech (26) | Straight sets against the 26th seed | 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Tiafoe (11) d. Vacherot (22) | A seed-on-seed tie settled in straight sets | 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 |
| Michelsen d. Mérida | Into the last 16 at Flushing Meadows | 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-3 |
| Etcheverry (27) d. Navone | The all-Argentine tie, in three | 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 |
| Sabalenka (1) d. Rakhimova | Routine for the two-time defending champion | 6-3, 6-4 |
| Pegula (3) d. Fernandez (31) | A set down before taking control | 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 |
| Navarro (26) d. Muchová (7) | The seventh seed out in straight sets | 6-3, 7-5 |
| Kalinskaya (21) d. Svitolina (9) | Another top-10 seed out | 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 |
| Townsend d. Shnaider (15) | Into the last 16 as an unseeded American | 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3 |
| Kostyuk (11) d. Alexandrova (18) | Comfortable in straight sets | 6-3, 6-2 |
| Nosková (6) d. Li (29) | The Wimbledon champion needed three | 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 |
| Cirstea (16) d. Paolini (19) | The 16th seed through in straight sets | 6-3, 6-3 |
How Day 6’s bets landed
Better, and about time. Two of the three named bets came in: Alex Michelsen beat Daniel Mérida in straight sets and Ben Shelton got past Denis Shapovalov in four. The Jiří Lehečka call was wrong, and wrong in the way we flagged as the risk: he won the first set 6-2 and then took eight games from the remaining three.
The Seeds Slip landed in full. Alcaraz, Sabalenka, Shelton and Medvedev all won, which ends a run of three straight write-offs. The note in that slip suggested Medvedev was the leg to drop if you wanted to shorten it; he won it 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, so that advice cost anyone who took it.
The other two slips missed by one leg each. The Value Slip had Michelsen and Sorana Cirstea, who beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-3, and died on Lehečka. The Straight Sets Slip had Alcaraz 3-0 and Sabalenka 2-0 and died on Linda Nosková, who won but lost a second-set tie-break to Ann Li on the way. Two three-leg slips, five of six legs home, nothing returned. That is the arithmetic of accumulators.
US Open 2026 Day 7 order of play
Sixteen third-round matches across five courts. Day-session play starts at 4pm BST and the Arthur Ashe night session begins at midnight BST; the exact night-session line-up is confirmed on the day.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
- [1] Alexander Zverev v [25] Alejandro Tabilo
- [14] Iva Jovic v [17] Alexandra Eala
- [9] Taylor Fritz v [24] Francisco Cerúndolo
- Cristina Bucsa v [4] Coco Gauff
Louis Armstrong Stadium (from 4pm BST)
- [17] Jakub Menšík v [14] Learner Tien
- [28] Alexander Blockx v [5] Flavio Cobolli
- [24] Anastasia Potapova v [10] Amanda Anisimova
- [13] Naomi Osaka v [23] Elise Mertens
Grandstand (from 4pm BST)
- Michael Zheng (WC) v Arthur Géa (LL)
- [8] Iga Świątek v [25] Marie Bouzková
- [22] Madison Keys v Zheng Qinwen (Q)
- Yuliia Starodubtseva v [2] Elena Rybakina
Stadium 17 (from 4pm BST)
- [31] Zizou Bergs v Botic van de Zandschulp
- Karen Khachanov v Benjamin Bonzi
- [5] Mirra Andreeva v Nikola Bartůňková
Court 5 (from 4pm BST)
- [21] Luciano Darderi v Dane Sweeny (WC)
Zizou Bergs v Botic van de Zandschulp
The most valuable match on the card, because of where it leads. This section of the draw has already lost its highest seed, and the other third-round tie in it is Michael Zheng, an American wild card, against Arthur Géa, a French lucky loser. Whoever wins on Stadium 17 goes into a last 16 against a player who was not expected to be in the tournament at all, with a quarter-final place on the other side of it.
Botic van de Zandschulp arrives in the better form and with the better result behind him. He beat sixth seed Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in the second round and has not dropped a set all week. He also has previous in New York: this is the court where he has produced his biggest wins. Zizou Bergs is the 31st seed and the higher-ranked man, but he has needed four sets in both his matches, including a fourth-set tie-break against Jesper de Jong.
Best bet: Botic van de Zandschulp to win — priced up at Betway (approx odds; the market has this close).
Taylor Fritz v Francisco Cerúndolo
Taylor Fritz has played two matches and dropped 11 games, including a 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 win over Mattia Bellucci that took barely more than an hour and a half. That is the sort of start he needs at his home Slam, and the ninth seed is in the friendlier half of a draw that has already lost its third and sixth seeds.
Francisco Cerúndolo is the awkward opponent on paper and the tired one in practice. He came through five sets against Jan-Lennard Struff, losing the first and third, and the Argentine’s game is built for slower courts than this one. Fritz serves too well here for a five-set grinder to be the preferred outcome, and the crowd is worth something on Ashe.
Best bet: Taylor Fritz to win — odds-on at William Hill (approx odds).
Madison Keys v Zheng Qinwen
The best value on the card. Zheng Qinwen is in the main draw as a qualifier, which is where the price comes from, and she has already beaten Yulia Putintseva in the second round. A former world No. 5 and Olympic champion arriving through qualifying is a ranking story, not a form one.
Madison Keys is the 22nd seed and has not been convincing. She needed three sets and a final-set tie-break to get past Anna Bondár, and she needed 7-5, 6-4 to get past Alina Korneeva before that. Keys hits through the court as well as anyone in the draw when it is working, but two scratchy wins against opponents outside the top 50 is not the profile of a player about to handle this.
Best bet: Zheng Qinwen to win — odds-against at Betfred (approx odds).
US Open 2026 Day 7 acca
Three slips for the second half of the third round, built around the four heavy favourites on the Grandstand and Ashe, with the value in the ties the seeding does not settle. Full breakdown in our US Open 2026 Day 7 acca tips.
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 · Day 6 · Day 7
Daily acca tips: Day 2 · Day 3 · Day 4 · Day 5 · Day 6 · Day 7
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