US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Aleksandar Vukic vs 
Rei Sakamoto
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Aleksandar Vukic to advance · locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTCPrediction
Vukic is 30, ranked 95th, 15–20 on the season with an 81–86 career hard record; Sakamoto is a 20-year-old qualifier ranked 157th, 8–8, playing his first US Open main draw. They met in Tokyo qualifying last year and Vukic won 6-4 7-6(5). Experience, the head-to-head and a best-of-five format all point the same way, but a 51-point hard-court Elo gap is nothing, and Sakamoto is the one improving. Vukic in four.
The case for Aleksandar Vukic
59% to winHe has beaten Sakamoto already, on a hard court, in straight sets, and he has 167 career hard-court matches to the 20-year-old's 24. Best-of-five punishes inexperience more than any other format, and Vukic has played this tournament before.
The case for Rei Sakamoto
41% to winSakamoto is ten years younger, 8–8 against Vukic's 15–20, and has three qualifying wins on these courts inside the week. The hard-court Elo gap is 51 points — close to nothing — and their one meeting was a tiebreak away from going the other way.
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
Aleksandar VukicRei SakamotoPlayer 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
- Sakamoto, 20, is playing his first US Open main draw after qualifying.
- Vukic won their only meeting, Tokyo qualifying 2025, 6-4 7-6(5).
- The hard-court Elo gap is just 51 points — one of the tightest in the round.
Head to head
One meeting: Tokyo qualifying, 2025, Vukic 6-4 7-6(5) on hard.
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: Court 7, Sunday 30 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: 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 Damm or Tiafoe in the Round of 64.
