US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Matteo Berrettini vs Mariano Navone — 3-6 6-3 6-4 7-6(4)
 Mariano Navone✓ | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
 Matteo Berrettini | 6 | 3 | 4 | 64 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Mariano Navone knocked the fourth seed out of this tournament on Sunday and has now removed a former Wimbledon finalist too. Matteo Berrettini took the opening set and then made 77 unforced errors to Navone's 37 across three and a half hours on an uncovered Court 12 that the day's rain had pushed deep into the evening. He hit 44 winners to 25 and 15 aces to five and lost anyway: Navone landed 70% of his first serves, won 62% of the points behind his second, and converted three of seven break points to Berrettini's two of nine before taking the fourth-set tiebreak 7-4. Berrettini, 30, a Wimbledon finalist in 2021 and a semi-finalist here in 2019, had ended Stan Wawrinka's Grand Slam career in the first round. He had also been asked about Navone at that press conference and answered it precisely — the Argentine never missed, he said, ran the way he always runs, and this would be a very complicated match. Navone, 49th in the world and a clay-courter who did not play regularly on hard courts until around 2021, is into a US Open third round for the first time and meets his compatriot Tomas Martin Etcheverry next.
Matteo BerrettiniRows 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.
Matteo BerrettiniMariano Navone✓Round of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
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.
Berrettini, narrowly, and the qualifier is the four hours and thirty-six minutes in Navone's legs. Navone beat Novak Djokovic on Sunday night from two sets to one down, in a match Djokovic spent being sick courtside — a career result by any measure, and one that required him to win the last two sets 6-2 6-1 against a man who had not lost a Grand Slam opener in twenty years. Berrettini's own Monday was long but never desperate: two tiebreaks and then a bagel against Stan Wawrinka's farewell, 5 of 7 break points converted, 44 winners, and a first serve that reached 140 mph. The complication is the head-to-head. Berrettini leads it 2-1, but both his wins were on clay and the one hard-court meeting went to Navone four weeks ago in Montreal, 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3. Navone is 13-34 on hard courts for his career, which is the strongest single argument in this match and the reason the split is not closer; but he has now beaten Djokovic on one, so the record is a description of the past rather than a prediction.
The case for Matteo Berrettini
60% to winBerrettini was a semi-finalist here in 2019 and is 113-91 on hard courts; on Monday he faced twelve break points and gave up two, took five of his own seven, and won the last nine games of the match. He is 6′5″ with a serve that produced thirteen aces at up to 140 mph, and he has two days more freshness than a man who played four and a half hours on Sunday night. He has also beaten Navone twice.
The case for Mariano Navone
40% to winNavone has just beaten Novak Djokovic at a Grand Slam, from a set down, and he did it by getting better as the match went longer — 6-2 6-1 in the last two sets. He also owns the only hard-court meeting between these two, 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 in Montreal four weeks ago, so the surface argument that his 13-34 career record makes has already been contradicted once this month. Berrettini is 15-14 for the season and beat a 41-year-old wild card; the level he showed is not yet evidence.
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: Matteo Berrettini to advance ✗ WRONG
“The bigger serve, the better hard-court record and two days more rest against a man who has just spent four and a half hours beating Djokovic.”
Locked 2026-09-01 01:20 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Matteo BerrettiniMariano NavonePlayer 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
- Navone knocked out the fourth seed Novak Djokovic 7-6(5) 5-7 4-6 6-2 6-1 in 4 hours 36 minutes, winning the last two sets for the loss of three games.
- Berrettini beat Stan Wawrinka 7-6(4) 7-6(3) 6-0 in the last Grand Slam match of the Swiss's career, converting five of seven break points to Wawrinka's two of twelve.
- Navone won their only hard-court meeting four weeks ago, 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 in the Montreal first round; Berrettini's two wins over him were both on clay.
- Navone's career hard-court record is 13-34; Berrettini's is 113-91, with a US Open semi-final in 2019.
- Navone spent 4 hours 36 minutes on court on Sunday night; Berrettini 2 hours 54 on Monday.
Head to head
Berrettini leads 2-1, but Navone took the most recent meeting and the only one on a hard court — 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 in the Montreal first round in August 2026. Berrettini's wins came on clay at Monte Carlo in 2025 and in the Marrakech semi-final in 2024.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Court & schedule: Court 12, Wednesday 2 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.