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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Yunchaokete Bu vs 
Michael Zheng
Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Michael Zheng to advance · locked 2026-09-02 23:55 UTCPrediction
A lucky loser against a wild card, and whoever wins it reaches a Grand Slam third round for the first time. Bu, 24 and ranked 124th, was beaten in the last round of qualifying and only got in when Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew; he then took 108 minutes to remove the 12th seed Rafael Jodar for the loss of four games, and did not face a break point doing it. Zheng, 22 and ranked 107th, is playing his first US Open main draw at the fourth attempt, having lost in qualifying three years running before the USTA handed him a wild card. He beat Fabian Marozsan, the world No. 63, in straight sets on Wednesday — his second win over the Hungarian in three weeks, after coming from a set down in Cincinnati. Neither had a major main-draw win before this week and neither has ever played the other. The tilt is toward Zheng: a New York crowd behind a two-time NCAA champion from Columbia, and a serve that has been the best shot on either side of the net all week. But Bu has the better win of the two, by some distance.
The case for Yunchaokete Bu
47% to winBu beat a seed 6-2 6-1 6-1 and never faced a break point in the match. He is the more experienced player at tour level despite the ranking gap, and he arrives with nothing to lose: a lucky loser who was packing on Sunday is playing with house money, and a draw that has already opened for him once can open again. Zheng, for all the form, has never won two matches at this level in the same week.
The case for Michael Zheng
53% to winZheng has beaten Marozsan twice in three weeks and did it here without dropping a set, saving five of the six break points he faced. He is 18-9 for the season and has the crowd, the court time and the local knowledge; he has also had one fewer scheduling shock than an opponent who did not know until Monday that he was in the tournament. Bu has not won back-to-back tour-level matches since October 2025.
Both cases written 2026-09-02, 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
Yunchaokete BuMichael ZhengPlayer 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 2026-09-02.
The briefing
Storylines
- Bu is in the draw as a lucky loser, Zheng on a wild card; the winner reaches a Grand Slam third round for the first time.
- Bu beat the 12th seed Rafael Jodar 6-2 6-1 6-1 without facing a break point.
- Zheng, a two-time NCAA singles champion at Columbia, had lost in US Open qualifying three years running before this year's wild card.
- Zheng has now beaten Fabian Marozsan twice in three weeks, having also come from a set down in Cincinnati.
- They have never played each other.
Head to head
They have never met.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
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: Court 12, 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: Wednesday night is wet: showers and thunderstorms likely at 64% on a low near 72°F, which is the night session's problem and the roofs' answer. Thursday stays unsettled — 83°F, showers and thunderstorms likely, again at 64% — and eases to 33% overnight. Friday improves without quite clearing: mostly sunny and 82°F, with a slight shower chance at 23%. Saturday is the clean day, sunny and 78°F on 2%, and Sunday is sunny at 74°F. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-02)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 men's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents carrying form rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
Round of 32