US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Jesper de Jong vs 
Francesco Passaro
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Jesper de Jong to advance · locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTCPrediction
De Jong is 99th and Passaro 207th, and they have met once — last year's Roland-Garros first round, a five-setter de Jong won from two sets down (3-6 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-1). That match is the most useful thing on the page: it says Passaro can lead him and it says de Jong does not stop. Their seasons are 11–19 and 6–6; Passaro comes through qualifying with three wins already banked. Hard court favours de Jong slightly (27–32 to 22–20 in raw terms, with a 71-point hard-court Elo edge). De Jong in four, and possibly the long way round again.
The case for Jesper de Jong
62% to winHe has beaten this opponent before, and he did it after losing the first two sets — the sort of win that tells you something about a fifth set. He is 108 places higher in the world, and while 11–19 is a hard season, a best-of-five format is where his stubbornness pays.
The case for Francesco Passaro
38% to winPassaro is the fresher and more in-form player: 6–6 on the season against 11–19, plus three qualifying wins on these courts this week. He led their only meeting two sets to love, so the blueprint exists, and de Jong has never won a main-draw match at this tournament.
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.
Tale of the tape
Jesper de JongFrancesco PassaroPlayer 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.
The briefing
Storylines
- Their only previous meeting went five sets at Roland-Garros in 2025 — Passaro led two sets to love and lost.
- Passaro is through qualifying for the second straight year; both men lost in the first round here in 2025.
- Neither has won a US Open main-draw match: the winner records a career first.
Head to head
One meeting: Roland-Garros 2025, first round, de Jong 3-6 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-1 after trailing by two sets.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Watch: Opening-round coverage runs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, including the whip-around channel that only exists in the early rounds. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Not yet assigned. Days one and two of the main draw are on the board; this match falls in the back half of the first round, and the US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before. (Official US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-28)
Weather: The forecast cooled since the draw: Sunday opens partly sunny near 80°F with a slight shower chance after 2 p.m., and a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms arrives with Sunday night. Monday is similar at 81°F, and the storm odds climb through Tuesday and Wednesday. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs; the field courts wait. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-28)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
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 Bergs or Taberner in the Round of 64.
