US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Carlos Alcaraz vs 
Jaime Faria
Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Carlos Alcaraz to advance · locked 2026-08-31 20:50 UTCPrediction
Alcaraz, and the interesting number is not the ranking but the four months. He had not played since a wrist injury at Barcelona and came back on Ashe in a sleeve to beat Roman Safiullin 6-4 6-4 6-4 in 2 hours 22 minutes — a match he won on the margins rather than by force: 99 points to 91, four breaks from seven against one from six, 19 of 24 at the net, and only two aces. Faria arrives having survived 3 hours 44 minutes and five sets against Jenson Brooksby, 150 points to 149, with fourteen double faults and 53 unforced errors. That is a player who found a way rather than a player in control, and the 90 minutes of extra tennis in a first round matters against an opponent this good. The ratings say roughly 89–11. First meeting; Faria is 27–13 for the season but 15–13 on hard courts, and his only previous US Open ended in the first round.
The case for Carlos Alcaraz
89% to winAlcaraz is a seven-time major champion, twice the winner here, and 164–46 on hard courts. His first match in four months was a straight-sets win in which he took every important point — four of seven break points, 27 unforced errors to Safiullin's 36, 19 of 24 at the net — and he did it having come in with visible doubts. He has now won eight in a row at this tournament, and Faria has 90 minutes more tennis in his legs and fourteen double faults on his record from Sunday.
The case for Jaime Faria
11% to winFaria is 23, ranked No. 72, and has just won a five-set match he was losing — 150 points to 149 is as close as a Grand Slam match gets. He is 27–13 for the season, and he meets an opponent who has played exactly one competitive match since April and whose serve produced two aces in it. If Alcaraz's timing is still coming back, a long, physical match against a player with nothing to lose is the way to find out.
Both cases written 2026-08-31, 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
Carlos AlcarazJaime FariaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-31.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
The briefing
Storylines
- Alcaraz's opener was his first match in over four months after a wrist injury; he wore a sleeve on the wrist and won 6-4 6-4 6-4.
- He converted four of seven break points to Safiullin's one of six and won 99 points to 91.
- Faria needed 3 hours 44 minutes and five sets to beat Jenson Brooksby, winning 150 points to 149 with 14 double faults.
- Faria lost in the first round on his only previous US Open appearance; Alcaraz has won eight straight matches here.
- First meeting: they have never played.
Head to head
They have never met at tour level.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Watch: Second-round coverage runs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, which is where a match away from the two show courts will live. (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, and this match has not reached the board yet. (Official US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-31)
Weather: Rain is the story of the week's opening, and it is forecast to get worse before it clears. Showers and thunderstorms are likely overnight — 72% under a low near 72°F — and Tuesday is the worst day on the board: near 81°F with storms likely through the day, 67%, and again after dark at 64%. Wednesday is the break in it, near 76°F on a 26% chance of showers, with a slight chance of storms returning overnight; Thursday is warm and unsettled again, near 84°F on 53%. Friday is the first clean day of the fortnight — near 82°F and mostly sunny after an early 15%. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-31)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 is where a Grand Slam draw stops being a lottery and becomes a tournament. Sixty-four men's matches opened the bracket; thirty-two across Wednesday and Thursday halve what is left, and everyone still here has already won on these courts. Seeds who came through the first round now meet opponents carrying form rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
Round of 32