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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
James Duckworth vs Yibing Wu — 7-5 6-3 6-1
 Yibing Wu✓ | 7 | 6 | 6 |
 James Duckworth | 5 | 3 | 1 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Yibing Wu never faced a break point. The first ten games went with serve before he broke for 6-5 and served out the opener; he broke immediately in the second set, again in its ninth game with James Duckworth serving to stay in it, and twice more in a third set that closed the match out in 1hr 57min. Duckworth, 34 and ranked 71st, had beaten 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi from a set down in 3hr 25min two days earlier, saving four set points in a 10-8 fourth-set tiebreak; here he landed 47% of his first serves, served eight double faults and hit 15 winners to Wu's 36. The tournament's own app had made it close to even beforehand, 58-42. Wu, 26 and ranked 113th, is into the US Open's last 32 for the first time in four years and the third round of a major for only the second time in his career. He came into this draw as a replacement for the withdrawn Gabriel Diallo, three years after becoming the first Chinese man to win an ATP singles title and two after left-foot surgery dropped him to 298th in the world.
James DuckworthRows 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
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.
The closest match on this list, and the ratings barely separate them — Wu by about 56–44 on a 37-point Elo gap. Duckworth, 34 and ranked No. 71, took out the 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi 5-7 6-3 6-2 7-6(8) by coming to the net 48 times and winning 31 of those points, with sixteen aces to five, over 3 hours 25 minutes. Wu had the shorter day: 7-6(2) 6-2 7-5 over Adam Walton in 2 hours 24, five breaks from thirteen, 43 winners to 29. The surface records are close to identical in rate — Wu 44–33, Duckworth 117–144 — and the difference is age and mileage rather than ability: Wu is 26 and reached the third round here in 2022, Duckworth's best in New York is a second round. Both have won a lot of tennis to get here and neither has beaten the other, because they have never played.
The case for James Duckworth
44% to winDuckworth just beat a seed by playing a style nobody else in this section is playing: 48 approaches, 31 points won at the net, and a fourth-set tiebreak taken 10-8 after three and a half hours. Sixteen aces against five says the serve is where it needs to be, and at 34 with 261 career hard-court matches behind him he has been in more of these than Wu has. He also came through the tighter match, which counts for something in a round where nobody is fresh.
The case for Yibing Wu
56% to winWu spent an hour less on court and won more comfortably: a first-set tiebreak taken 7-2, then a 6-2 and a 7-5, 43 winners to 29 and only 34 unforced errors. He is eight years younger with a better hard-court win rate (44–33 to Duckworth's 117–144) and has been to the third round here, which Duckworth has not. Duckworth's 14–20 season is the least encouraging record either player brings into the match.
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: Yibing Wu to advance ✓ RIGHT
“A coin-flip decided on the shorter opening match and the better hard-court rate.”
Locked 2026-08-31 20:50 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
James DuckworthYibing WuPlayer 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
- Duckworth beat 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi 5-7 6-3 6-2 7-6(8), coming to the net 48 times and winning 31 of those points.
- The fourth-set tiebreak went 10-8 after 3 hours 25 minutes.
- Wu beat Adam Walton 7-6(2) 6-2 7-5 in 2 hours 24 with 43 winners to 29.
- Wu reached the third round here in 2022; Duckworth's best US Open is a second round.
- First meeting, and the Elo gap between them is 37 points.
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: Court 6, 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.