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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Dino Prizmicvs
Aleksandr Shevchenko
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Dino Prizmic to advance · locked 2026-08-28 04:05 UTCPrediction
Prizmić. The 21-year-old Croatian's 25–13 season has hauled him to the edge of the top 100 with the sort of dense, physical baseline game that translates late but permanently — and his junior pedigree (a US Open boys' champion in 2023-adjacent memory; more to the point, a professional's patience already) has begun paying tour-level bills. Shevchenko is four years older, ranked four places higher, and having the worse season at 17–21 with a 54–64 career on hard courts that undersells his flat power on good days. First meeting. The pick rides the trajectory: Prizmić is the one whose ceiling is still moving, and five-set formats flatter the fitter, hungrier man. Four sets, momentum one-directional after the second.
The case for Dino Prizmic
58% to winPrizmić's 25–13 is the record of a player about to stop being a prospect; his rally tolerance is elite for his age, and best-of-five is the format where that trait taxes flat hitters like Shevchenko hardest. Nothing in the opponent's season suggests he can end points fast enough, often enough, for long enough.
The case for Aleksandr Shevchenko
42% to winShevchenko's flat drive off both wings is the biggest weaponry in this match, and his 2024 second round here means the stage is familiar. Against a young grinder the formula is known: serve well, swing first, keep rallies under six shots. On a quick court, the man with the pace controls the terms.
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
Dino PrizmicAleksandr ShevchenkoPlayer 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
- Prizmić, 21, arrives with a 25–13 season — among the best win totals of any unseeded man his age in the field.
- Shevchenko reached the second round here in 2024; his 2026 season (17–21) has run eight games under water.
- First career meeting — and a fork in the road: the winner gets Tommy Paul or a qualifier in the Round of 64.
Head to head
Never met at tour level — the Croatian's climb and the Kazakhstani's plateau intersect for the first time on a US Open field court.
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 in the draw's quietest corner — two men outside the seedings playing for a Round of 64 that suddenly matters: Tommy Paul's return from the section's qualifier slots looms as the likely reward. Prizmić's season says he belongs at this level permanently; Shevchenko's says he is fighting to stay. First meetings between a riser and a plateau-er are the round's most honest form line. Sunday through Tuesday.
Dino PrizmicAleksandr ShevchenkoRound of 128
Dino PrizmicAleksandr ShevchenkoRound of 64