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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Vit Kopriva — 6-3 6-4 6-0
 Tomas Martin Etcheverry✓ | 6 | 6 | 6 |
 Vit Kopriva | 3 | 4 | 0 |
Final · Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
The 27th seed made ten unforced errors in three sets, which at this level is close to a clean sheet, and the match ended the way that number implies: a 6-0 third, 90 points to 51, seven breaks from ten chances. Kopriva won 47% of the points behind his own first serve — a figure that makes a scoreline like this inevitable rather than surprising.
Tomas Martin EtcheverryRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
Round of 128, where seedings earn their skepticism: Etcheverry's 27 comes with a losing career hard-court record, and Kopriva already stretched him to a pair of tiebreaks this season. The section's reward structure is worth the fight — the winner draws Landaluce or a qualifier in the Round of 64, with Djokovic's eighth waiting beyond that. Sunday through Tuesday, $140,000 to the loser.
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.
Etcheverry, without much conviction behind the seed number. The Argentine's 27th seeding rests on a season (23–21) that has been solid on clay and shaky elsewhere, and his hard-court career is a modest 51–57 — this is a seed the surface does not vouch for. Kopriva at No. 69 is having his best season (20–21 against tour fields) but his own hard-court résumé (20–27) is thinner still, and the one head-to-head meeting — Rio this February — Etcheverry survived in two tiebreaks. The projection: long, scrappy, decided by who serves better on break points, with Etcheverry's superior weight of shot the difference across five sets. A third round here in 2024 says he can play in New York; nothing says he can cruise. Four sets, maybe five.
The case for Tomas Martin Etcheverry
60% to winEtcheverry won the only meeting this very season, has a US Open third round on his card, and simply hits a heavier ball — on any surface. The seeding gives him draw protection; his forehand gives him the biggest weapon on the court. Even his patchy hard-court record includes wins over better players than Kopriva.
The case for Vit Kopriva
40% to winKopriva took Etcheverry to two tiebreaks on the Argentine's best surface in February — this rematch comes on neutral ground where neither man is at home. The Czech's flat, low ball works better on hard courts than his record suggests, and a 27th seed with a sub-.500 surface history is the most beatable kind on the board.
Both cases written 2026-08-28, 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: Tomas Martin Etcheverry to advance ✓ RIGHT
“He won the only meeting and hits the heavier ball — a wobbly seed is still the better player here.”
Locked 2026-08-28 03:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Tomas Martin EtcheverryVit KoprivaPlayer 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 2026-08-27.
Storylines
- The only meeting came this season — Rio in February, where Etcheverry needed 7-6(2) 7-6(4) after dropping the first set.
- Etcheverry's 27th seeding is the surface anomaly of the men's list: a 51–57 career hard-court record, propped by clay results.
- Kopriva is chasing his first US Open main-draw win; last year's debut ended in the first round.
Head to head
Etcheverry leads 1–0 from Rio this February — 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(4), on his home continent and favorite surface, and still two tiebreaks from defeat. The margin travels; the question is whose game does.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Court & schedule: Court 10, Sunday 30 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.