US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Matteo Berrettinivs
Stan Wawrinka
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Matteo Berrettini to advance · locked 2026-08-28 03:40 UTCPrediction
Berrettini, in the round's best guaranteed theater. Two months ago at Wimbledon these two played one of the season's absurdities — four sets, four tiebreaks, Berrettini taking the second 18-16 — and now the tournament has drawn them straight back into each other. Wawrinka at 41, on a wildcard, is the 2016 champion here and still swings the one-handed backhand that once broke this event open; but eight wins in 2026 and a 41-year-old's recovery clock against Berrettini's serve is a hard equation. The Italian's own body has betrayed him for years, and his 15–13 season is modest — yet at 30, with a 2019 semi-final here and 113 hard-court wins, he is simply operating on fresher fuel. If it goes tiebreaks again, remember Wimbledon: Berrettini won all four. Berrettini in four.
The case for Matteo Berrettini
71% to winBerrettini just beat Wawrinka in exactly this kind of match — four tiebreak sets at Wimbledon in June — and his serve-forehand game remains top-ten grade when his body allows, as a 2019 semi-final here and a 113–90 hard-court career attest. Eleven years younger, better season, fresher legs, and the head-to-head's only entry: every measurable is his.
The case for Stan Wawrinka
29% to winWawrinka won this tournament by beating the era's best when it mattered, and his ball-striking has aged better than his ranking — the Wimbledon meeting was four tiebreaks precisely because his level remains matchable with anyone's for a set at a time. A wildcard at 41 has exactly one gear: swing freely. On a fast court, freely-swinging Wawrinka is the most dangerous 8–16 player alive.
Both cases written 2026-08-28, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine, quoted to a decimal because false precision is funnier — and tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
Tale of the tape
Matteo BerrettiniStan WawrinkaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-27.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
The briefing
Storylines
- They played nine weeks ago at Wimbledon: Berrettini won 6-7(7) 7-6(16) 7-6(7) 7-6(5) — four sets, four tiebreaks, an 18-16 second-set breaker.
- Wawrinka, 41 and on a wildcard, is the 2016 champion and the oldest man in the draw — a three-time major winner opening against a former semi-finalist here.
- Berrettini's 2019 semi-final here is his best US Open; both men are chasing one more New York run their bodies have kept postponing.
Head to head
Berrettini leads 1–0 — Wimbledon, June, 6-7(7) 7-6(16) 7-6(7) 7-6(5). No breaks of serve across four sets; the rematch starts where that scoreline left off.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Watch: Opening-round coverage starts Sunday at 11 a.m. ET across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, including a whip-around channel for the early rounds. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Not yet assigned — the US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before, so day-one courts land the night of 29 August. A former champion's farewell-adjacent opener against Berrettini is night-session bait for Armstrong at least. (US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-27)
Weather: The opening window looks kind: mostly sunny and 85–86°F Sunday and Monday, with thunderstorm chances only creeping in on Tuesday. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs if the sky turns; the field courts wait it out. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-27)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
Round of 128 as event television: the 2016 champion, 41 and wearing a wildcard, against the 2019 semi-finalist whose serve just out-tiebreaked him at Wimbledon. Between them: one major title here, several careers' worth of injuries, and the round's highest guaranteed quality-per-point. The winner's reward is enormous and unfair at once: a Round of 64 against Novak Djokovic, in all likelihood — but this is one of those first-rounders where the next round is beside the point. Sunday through Tuesday.
