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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Brandon Nakashima vs Alex Michelsen
Round of 64
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My pick: Brandon Nakashima to advance · locked 2026-09-01 01:20 UTCPrediction
Two Americans, neither of whom has ever played the other on tour, and the numbers from Sunday and Monday point the same way. Nakashima beat Sebastian Baez 6-2 6-1 6-0 in 90 minutes with twelve aces and no double faults, saved all three break points he faced and won exactly double the points, 84 to 42 — and he arrived on the best hard-court run of his career, a Montreal final and semi-finals in Washington and Cincinnati. Michelsen's win was almost as one-sided but cost him twice as long: rain stopped him at 6-4 1-1 on Sunday night, and when it resumed the 19-year-old qualifier Federico Cina did not win another game. He served eight double faults to six aces and made 21 unforced errors, which is the loose end here. On serve the two are close — Michelsen is 6′4″ to Nakashima's 6′2″ and won 81% of his first-serve points to Nakashima's 86% — and on hard courts Nakashima's career record is 125-94 against 72-54. The margin is form and freshness rather than anything structural.
The case for Brandon Nakashima
62% to winNakashima is the 16th seed, ranked 29 places higher, and has been the better player all summer — a Masters 1000 final and two more semi-finals on this surface in six weeks. His opener was the cleanest scoreline of the men's first round on the day: no double faults, three break points faced and all three saved, thirteen from fourteen at the net. He has reached the fourth round here before; Michelsen has never been past the second.
The case for Alex Michelsen
38% to winMichelsen is 22, 6′4″, and closed his own opener by winning eleven straight games after a rain break — the ability to restart cold is not nothing in a week the forecast keeps interrupting. He is 72-54 on hard courts for his career and has beaten seeded players on this surface before. Nakashima has played a lot of tennis since Washington, and a first meeting between two players who know each other's games from practice courts and Davis Cup weeks tends to be closer than the rankings.
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.
Tale of the tape
Brandon NakashimaAlex MichelsenPlayer 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 2026-08-31.
The briefing
Storylines
- First meeting on the main tour between two Americans who have never played each other at tour level.
- Nakashima beat Sebastian Baez 6-2 6-1 6-0 in 90 minutes, hitting twelve aces with no double faults and winning exactly double the points, 84-42.
- Michelsen's opener against the qualifier Federico Cina was stopped by rain on Sunday at 6-4 1-1; when it resumed on Monday, Cina won no more games.
- Nakashima came to New York off a Montreal final and semi-finals in Washington and Cincinnati — the best hard-court run of his career.
- Career hard-court records: Nakashima 125-94, Michelsen 72-54.
Head to head
They have never met at tour level.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
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: Not yet assigned. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before, and this match has not reached the board yet. (Official US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-31)
Weather: Rain is the story of the week's opening, and it is forecast to get worse before it clears. Showers and thunderstorms are likely overnight — 72% under a low near 72°F — and Tuesday is the worst day on the board: near 81°F with storms likely through the day, 67%, and again after dark at 64%. Wednesday is the break in it, near 76°F on a 26% chance of showers, with a slight chance of storms returning overnight; Thursday is warm and unsettled again, near 84°F on 53%. Friday is the first clean day of the fortnight — near 82°F and mostly sunny after an early 15%. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-31)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
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 32