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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Tomas Martin Etcheverryvs
Vit Kopriva
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Tomas Martin Etcheverry to advance · locked 2026-08-28 03:40 UTCPrediction
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, quoted to a decimal because false precision is funnier — and tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
Tale of the tape
Tomas Martin EtcheverryVit KoprivaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-27.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
The briefing
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.
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. This one profiles as a field-court match. (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, 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.
Tomas Martin EtcheverryVit KoprivaRound of 128
Tomas Martin EtcheverryVit KoprivaRound of 64