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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Karen Khachanov — 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 6-2
| Karen Khachanov✓ | 65 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
 Felix Auger-Aliassime | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Final · Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Karen Khachanov led the first-set tiebreak 3-1, led it again at 4-3, levelled it at 5-5 with an ace — and lost it 7-5. Then he took the next three sets, winning eighteen of the twenty-five games that were left. Felix Auger-Aliassime, the third seed and ranked fourth in the world, was broken seven times from the twenty break points he faced, made 47 unforced errors to Khachanov's 30, and won 41% of his second-serve points against 61%. L'Equipe's reporter had the Canadian slowing on his feet and missing early under the physical load; Khachanov would say only, "Maybe he had some physical issues. It's part of our sport, it's part of tennis." Khachanov is 30 and ranked 50, his lowest since 2018, and had lost his opening match at Los Cabos, Montreal and Toronto since Wimbledon. This was his first win over a top-ten player in thirteen months and his first at a major since 2019; his career record against that tier is 17-60. He reached the semi-finals here in 2022 and had not been past the second round since. Auger-Aliassime, a US Open semi-finalist in 2021 and again last year, loses 750 points.
Felix Auger-AliassimeRows 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.
Felix Auger-AliassimeRound of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
Court: Louis Armstrong Stadium
Match length: 3:17
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.
Two men who have reached the semi-finals of this tournament and nothing further, meeting for a fifth time at 2-2. Auger-Aliassime is the third seed and world No. 4 and had by far the harder Monday: three hours nineteen minutes against Rinky Hijikata, a fifty-five-minute rain delay between the second set and the third, eleven double faults, fifty unforced errors, and a failure to serve out the match at 5-4 in the fourth before he broke again in the eleventh game. Khachanov spent barely half that time on court, beating Roman Burruchaga 6-3 6-0 6-1. That is the shape of it: the better player, tired and imprecise, against a player ranked 46 places lower who is fresh and has been here before. Khachanov's season has been poor — 16-19 — and he split their two hard-court meetings. Auger-Aliassime should win because his ceiling is higher and because he has spent the last two years turning ragged matches into wins at this event. He should not expect it to be short.
The case for Felix Auger-Aliassime
60% to winHe is world No. 4 to Khachanov's No. 50, 32-16 on the season to 16-19, and both of his career Grand Slam semi-finals have come on these courts — 2021 and 2025. Even at his most wasteful on Monday he found six breaks of serve from thirteen chances and hit seventeen aces. Khachanov has not beaten a top-five player this year.
The case for Karen Khachanov
40% to winKhachanov reached the semi-finals here in 2022 and beat Burruchaga in an hour and a half while Auger-Aliassime was grinding through three and a quarter hours and a rain delay. Their head-to-head is level at 2-2, he won the most recent meeting 6-3 1-6 6-3 at Halle in 2025, and his career hard-court record — 217-169 — is marginally the better of the two. A big server who returns well is exactly the opponent who punishes eleven double faults.
Both cases written 2026-09-01, 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: Felix Auger-Aliassime to advance ✗ WRONG
“The higher ceiling and the better season, against a 2-2 head-to-head and a much fresher opponent — the seed should win it long rather than fast.”
Locked 2026-09-01 09:45 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Felix Auger-AliassimeKaren KhachanovPlayer 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 2026-09-01.
Storylines
- Their head-to-head is 2-2; Khachanov won the last meeting, 6-3 1-6 6-3 at Halle in June 2025.
- Auger-Aliassime needed 3 hours 19 minutes and survived a 55-minute rain delay to beat Rinky Hijikata in four sets, hitting eleven double faults.
- Khachanov beat Roman Burruchaga 6-3 6-0 6-1, losing four games in the last two sets combined.
- Both men have reached the US Open semi-finals — Auger-Aliassime in 2021 and 2025, Khachanov in 2022 — and neither has reached a Grand Slam final.
- Auger-Aliassime is 32-16 on the season; Khachanov is 16-19.
Head to head
Four meetings, level at 2-2 and split 1-1 on hard courts: Auger-Aliassime won at Cincinnati in 2021 and 's-Hertogenbosch in 2022, Khachanov in Canada in 2019 and at Halle in June 2025.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-01.
Court & schedule: Louis Armstrong Stadium, Thursday 3 September. 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 2026-09-02)
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.