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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Luciano Darderi vs Harry Wendelken — 6-2 3-6 6-2 7-5
 Luciano Darderi✓ | 6 | 3 | 6 | 7 |
 Harry Wendelken | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 |
Final · Monday, August 31, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Rain turned this one. Darderi saved five break points to take the first set in fifty-two minutes; then it fell on Court 5, the surface went heavy, and he protested to the officials about the footing. In that second set alone he conceded eleven break points. Wendelken, the world No. 196 through three rounds of qualifying, broke twice for 5-2, was broken back serving for it and took it on his fifth set point — after two sets he led on total points, 82-81. The third went 6-2 in forty minutes. Wendelken called the physio at the change (Eurosport had it as his right leg, Ubitennis as cramp), and in the fourth Darderi was broken to love for 3-4 and threw his racquet. He recovered it with a drop shot, a return winner and a backhand pass, broke at 5-5 on the fifth break point of the game, and served out after 3 hours 49 minutes. Fifteen aces, seven of twenty break points, 147 points to 130 — and five days after winning a single game against Botic van de Zandschulp in Winston-Salem, a second round.
Luciano DarderiRows 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 Svrčina or Royer 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.
Darderi is the 21st seed and world No. 22; Wendelken is a 196th-ranked qualifier making his Grand Slam main-draw debut. The complication is the surface: Darderi's ranking is built on clay, and his career hard-court record is 19–40 — the worst of any seed in this quarter. Wendelken has no tour-level hard-court record at all (0–0), which is its own kind of unknown. Seed and season (32–21) still win this comfortably enough, but a first set that goes the wrong way would surprise nobody who has watched Darderi on a hard court.
The case for Luciano Darderi
76% to winTwenty-second in the world against 196th is the whole argument, and Darderi's 32–21 season is the best record on this court by a wide margin. He reached the third round here last year, so the venue is not new, and a debutant qualifier who has never won a tour-level hard-court match is not the opponent to expose a surface weakness.
The case for Harry Wendelken
24% to winDarderi's 19–40 career hard-court record is the softest underbelly any seed brings into this round, and Wendelken arrives having won three qualifying matches on these exact courts this week. First Grand Slam main draw, nothing to lose, an opponent playing his least favourite surface — if the seed is tight early, the arithmetic changes fast.
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: Luciano Darderi to advance ✓ RIGHT
“No. 22 against No. 196 and a 32–21 season, even with a career hard-court record that reads 19–40.”
Locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Luciano DarderiHarry WendelkenPlayer 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
- Wendelken is making his Grand Slam main-draw debut at 24, through three rounds of qualifying.
- Darderi is seeded 21st on a hard court despite a 19–40 career record on the surface — his ranking is a clay-court ranking.
- Neither man has played the other; Wendelken has no tour-level hard-court wins or losses on record at all.
Head to head
They have never met. Wendelken arrives without a tour-level hard-court record of any kind, so there is no form line between them at all.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Court & schedule: Court 5, 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.