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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Ignacio Buse vs 
Benjamin Bonzi
Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Ignacio Buse to advance · locked 2026-09-02 23:55 UTCPrediction
They played ten days ago in the Winston-Salem semi-finals and Buse won 6-2 4-6 6-1 on his way to the title. He arrives in New York as the world No. 30 and the 32nd seed — the ranking landed after the seedings were set — and having just won the longest match of the tournament so far, 3 hours 48 minutes and five sets against Marcos Giron, on a day that started with a washout and ended with him dropping his racquet on the cement in front of a Peruvian crowd. Bonzi's route was gentler but not short: four sets against Alex Molcan, begun on Tuesday after three games and finished on Wednesday evening, fourteen aces and 38 winners. He is 30, ranked 97th, and only in the draw because Emilio Nava withdrew. The case for him is the recovery clock: Buse has played nearly four hours in the last twenty-four and Bonzi has played a spread-out four sets. The case against is everything else.
The case for Ignacio Buse
60% to winBuse is the seed, 67 ranking places higher, a Winston-Salem champion ten days ago and the winner of both their previous hard-court meetings this month. He is 22 and 27-19 for the season; Bonzi is 30 and 16-16. And the five-setter cuts both ways — a player who has just come through 3 hours 48 minutes and a rain washout has proved his legs before the round that usually tests them.
The case for Benjamin Bonzi
40% to winBonzi is a third-round player here — he made it last year — and he served fourteen aces past Molcan without ever looking like being broken twice in a set. He has had the kinder body clock of the two: a match spread across two evenings rather than a single 3-hour-48-minute five-setter finished the same afternoon. He also lost to Buse ten days ago in a match he led by a set, which means he has seen the pattern and has an idea what to do about it.
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
Ignacio BuseBenjamin BonziPlayer 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
- They met ten days ago in the Winston-Salem semi-final; Buse won 6-2 4-6 6-1 and went on to take the title.
- Buse beat Marcos Giron 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-7(6) 6-1 in 3 hours 48 minutes — his first US Open main-draw win, and the first by a Buse here since his grandfather Eduardo in 1958.
- Buse is the 32nd seed but the world No. 30; the ranking arrived after the seedings were set.
- Bonzi is in the draw only because Emilio Nava withdrew, and it was his first Grand Slam win of the season.
- Bonzi reached the third round here last year.
Head to head
Buse leads 1-0, from the Winston-Salem semi-final ten days ago: 6-2 4-6 6-1.
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 13, 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