US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Carlos Alcaraz vs Jaime Faria — 4-6 6-0 6-3 6-2
 Carlos Alcaraz✓ | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
 Jaime Faria | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Carlos Alcaraz dropped a set on Arthur Ashe — something that did not happen to him last year until the final — and then won eight games in a row. Jaime Faria broke him for 4-3 when Alcaraz missed a forehand, held to love with an ace and served the opener out; the second set was over almost before it began, Faria winning seven of his twenty-one service points in it. From there the defending champion hit 43 winners to 27, took seven of twelve break points to Faria's two of seven, and won 70% of the points behind his second serve against a man who won 31% of his and served eleven double faults. This was only Alcaraz's second singles match in four and a half months: a right-wrist tenosynovitis in April cost him Barcelona, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and he came back here past Roman Safiullin on Monday. "I just tried to be focused, tried to stay calm," he said afterwards, "and I'm thinking that good things are going to happen again." Faria is 23 and 72nd in the world, a career high, and had reached this round over five sets against Jenson Brooksby for his first main-draw win at a hard-court major.
Carlos AlcarazRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
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 64
What we know now
Court: Arthur Ashe Stadium
Match length: 2:40
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
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.
My locked pick: Carlos Alcaraz to advance ✓ RIGHT
“A two-time champion who came through his comeback match without dropping a set.”
Locked 2026-08-31 20:50 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Carlos AlcarazJaime FariaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-02.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
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.
Court & schedule: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Wednesday 2 September in the night session. 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 2026-09-01)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — is 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that cannot be pushed back. Ashe closes its roof and plays on. It clears overnight: 20% Sunday night, 20% Monday, then dry and sunny from Tuesday. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.