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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Alexander Blockx vs Tomas Barrios Vera — 6-3 6-4 6-2
 Alexander Blockx✓ | 6 | 6 | 6 |
 Tomas Barrios Vera | 3 | 4 | 2 |
Final · Monday, August 31, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Eleven unforced errors in three sets. Blockx, 21, seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career and in the US Open main draw for the first time after an ankle injury ended his 2025 in the second qualifying round, broke once in the fourth game for a 6-3 first set in thirty-three minutes, saved three break points in the second and broke in the fifth game, then took Barrios Vera's first and third service games of the third to lead 4-0. He hit ten aces to three, won 83% of his first-serve points and gave the Chilean five break points, none of which he took. "I have to play a qualifier and that's always dangerous — those players already have three matches in their legs," Blockx had said the day before. Barrios Vera, 28 and also in the main draw here for the first time, leaves New York rising about ten places to around No. 134.
Alexander BlockxRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 128 is the widest the net ever gets: 64 matches a draw, spread across three days, every seed in action and every qualifier playing the biggest match of the year. This half of the bracket filled in late — qualifying ran a day long after rain pushed the last round to Friday, so these names were still blank slots on draw night. First-round losers leave with $140,000. The winner draws Shang or Trungelliti in the Round of 64.
What we know now
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
Blockx is 21, seeded 28th, ranked 32nd and 22–14 on the season — and playing the first US Open main-draw match of his career. Barrios Vera is a 28-year-old qualifier ranked 144th, 11–12 this year, also making his US Open main-draw debut. Two players discovering this tournament at once, one of them 112 places better. Blockx's career hard record (20–22) is thin because he is young, not because he is bad; the hard-court Elo gap is 268 points. Straight sets unless the occasion bites.
The case for Alexander Blockx
84% to winSeeded 28th at 21 with a 22–14 season, against a qualifier ranked 144th. The Elo gap on hard courts is one of the largest in the round, and Blockx is the better mover, the better server and the more improving player by a distance.
The case for Tomas Barrios Vera
16% to winBarrios Vera has three matches of court time on the site this week; Blockx has none, and is playing the first US Open main-draw match of his life as a seed — which carries an expectation a qualifier does not have. At 28 he is the calmer man on a big first-round court.
Both cases written 2026-08-29, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
My locked pick: Alexander Blockx to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The 28th seed and a 22–14 season against a 144th-ranked qualifier, with a 268-point hard-court Elo gap.”
Locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Alexander BlockxTomas Barrios VeraPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Storylines
- Both men are playing their first US Open main-draw match — one as the 28th seed, one as a qualifier.
- Blockx is 21 and 22–14 on the season, his first year seeded at a major.
- A 268-point hard-court Elo gap, among the largest of any first-round match without a top-10 seed.
Head to head
They have never met.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Court & schedule: Court 7, Monday 31 August. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-08-30)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — was forecast at 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that could not be pushed back. The rain came in the morning and stopped before the final, which Ashe played with its roof open. It cleared from there: 15% overnight, 15% Monday, then dry and sunny. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.