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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Arthur Fils vs Stefanos Tsitsipas — 4-6 7-6(3) 6-1 6-4
 Stefanos Tsitsipas✓ | 4 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
 Arthur Fils | 6 | 63 | 1 | 4 |
Final · Monday, August 31, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Fils had beaten Tsitsipas five times out of five without dropping a set, the last of them 6-0 6-1 in Miami in March. He arrived on a six-match streak with a maiden Masters 1000 title from Cincinnati and a career-high No. 11 — the first Frenchman seeded in the top ten here since 2017 — and he had not lost serve all match when he reached 5-3 in the second and served for the set. From 15-40 he was broken; Tsitsipas held, forced the tiebreak and took it 7-3 from 6-2 up, then won seven of the next eight games. Fils collected a code violation for smashing his racquet in the fourth. “I see more dark than pink,” he said afterwards, rejecting pressure, the length of the swing and any physical problem as explanations: “at my level, to do such a mistake is almost unprofessional.” Tsitsipas, ranked 53rd and unseeded in New York for the first time in his career after bottoming out at No. 88 in June, had not beaten a top-20 player since April. Fifty-one winners to 38, 25 of 32 at the net, 2 hours 54 minutes. “Last year I couldn’t walk properly for two days after my defeat,” he said. “I kept believing deep down that I would have a moment like this again.”
Arthur FilsRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
Round of 128, and the draw's cruelest pairing: the Cincinnati champion, seeded 10th and 5–0 in the rivalry, against the former world No. 3 whose unseeded status made exactly this collision possible. For Fils, a statement window — beat a decorated name, bank the section; for Tsitsipas, the latest referendum on whether the rebuild is real, at the Slam that has never once cooperated with him. The winner meets Jack Kennedy or a qualifier in the Round of 64 — and the seedings point Fils at Ben Shelton in a heavyweight Round of 16. Sunday through Tuesday.
What we know now
Court: Louis Armstrong Stadium
Match length: 2:54
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
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.
Fils — emphatically, and the head-to-head is the least of it. The 10th seed arrives as the Cincinnati champion, the owner of a 32–10 season, and the winner of all five career meetings with Tsitsipas, the latest a 6-0 6-1 dismantling in Miami this spring that read like a generational memo. Tsitsipas at No. 53 is the draw's most decorated unseeded player, and his 252 career hard-court wins say the talent never left; but the US Open has always been his hardest Slam — a 3R ceiling that shocks people every time they check it — and Fils's power-forward game attacks precisely the second serve and backhand wing that have eroded. The romantic pick is the former world No. 3 rediscovering himself on Ashe. The evidence pick is the man who just won the tune-up. Fils in three or four.
The case for Arthur Fils
78% to winFils is 5–0 against him, took the last one 6-0 6-1, and arrives as the hottest hard-court player in the field — a Cincinnati title two weeks ago, 32 wins on the season, and a serve-forehand pattern that has overwhelmed Tsitsipas's return position in every meeting. Form, matchup, momentum and age all point the same direction; that alignment is rare and it is his.
The case for Stefanos Tsitsipas
22% to winTsitsipas has beaten everyone of Fils's stature at some point — a two-time Slam finalist with 252 hard-court wins does not forget how in twelve months — and New York's fast night courts reward his first-strike forehand as much as anyone's. Five straight losses to the same man is also five matches of scouting; no active player knows Fils's patterns better. Champions cornered by a narrative occasionally shred it.
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: Arthur Fils to advance ✗ WRONG
“Five straight wins in the rivalry, a Cincinnati title two weeks old, and the best hard-court season in this half of the bracket.”
Locked 2026-08-28 04:05 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Arthur FilsStefanos TsitsipasPlayer 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
- Fils won the Cincinnati Open two weeks ago — the men's hard-court tune-up title — and opens his US Open against a former world No. 3, unseeded at No. 53.
- The head-to-head is 5–0 Fils, including 6-0 6-1 in Miami this spring — Tsitsipas has never taken a set-count lead in any of the five.
- Tsitsipas, a former world No. 3 and two-time major finalist, has never passed the US Open third round — the most famous anomaly on his résumé.
Head to head
Fils leads 5–0 — Antwerp and Basel on hard, two on clay, and this spring's 6-0 6-1 in Miami. Tsitsipas retired from one of the clay meetings; he has finished none of the five in front.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Court & schedule: Louis Armstrong Stadium, 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 2026-08-28)
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.