US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Jurij Rodionov vs 
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard to advance · locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTCPrediction
Mpetshi Perricard serves as big as anyone alive and is ranked 104th; Rodionov is a 143rd-ranked left-handed qualifier who is 12–7 on the season — much the better recent form of the two, against Mpetshi Perricard's 12–18. Best-of-five is the Frenchman's friend, because it gives the serve more chances to decide sets, and his 38–42 hard record beats Rodionov's 26–40. But a lefty returner who has just won three matches on these courts is a bad first-round draw for a one-dimensional server. Call it Mpetshi Perricard in five, with two tiebreaks.
The case for Jurij Rodionov
44% to winRodionov is left-handed, in form (12–7 this season against 12–18), and has three wins on these exact courts this week. Returning is the one department where Mpetshi Perricard is beatable, and a lefty's angles into the ad court are the hardest read for a server relying on raw speed.
The case for Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
56% to winOver five sets, the serve is the safest asset in tennis. Mpetshi Perricard is 39 places higher in the world, has a better career hard record (38–42 to 26–40), and does not need to break more than once a set. Rodionov has never played a US Open main draw; the Frenchman has.
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
Jurij RodionovGiovanni Mpetshi PerricardPlayer 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
- Rodionov, 27, reaches a US Open main draw for the first time — through qualifying, as a left-hander.
- Mpetshi Perricard lost in the first round here in 2025, his only previous appearance.
- Recent form flips the ranking: Rodionov is 12–7 this season, Mpetshi Perricard 12–18.
Head to head
They have never met.
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 Menšík or Mochizuki in the Round of 64.
