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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Brandon Nakashima vs Alex Michelsen — 6-3 6-4 6-4
 Alex Michelsen✓ | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Brandon Nakashima | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Brandon Nakashima came to the second round as the form American of the summer — a semi-final in Washington, the Canadian Open final, another semi-final in Cincinnati, a career-high ranking of 17, and 2,485 ranking points to Alex Michelsen's 1,070 — and having conceded three games in the first round. He lasted an hour and fifty-five minutes against a compatriot he had never played. Michelsen, ranked 46th and 23-17 for the year, broke him four times from seven chances on the Grandstand, lost his own serve once and won 91 points to 71; all three of Nakashima's break points came in the first set and he earned none after it. Nakashima served the heavier ball — ten aces to four, nineteen winners to fifteen — and made twenty-six unforced errors. Michelsen, who turned 22 during qualifying week and has beaten Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti without yet winning a tour title, had gone out in the first or second round on each of his three previous visits. This is his first US Open third round. Andrey Rublev or Daniel Mérida is next.
Brandon NakashimaRows 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.
Brandon NakashimaAlex Michelsen✓Round of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
Court: Grandstand
Match length: 1:55
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
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.
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.
My locked pick: Brandon Nakashima to advance ✗ WRONG
“The best hard-court form of his career and the cleaner opener, in a first meeting where the serves are close to level.”
Locked 2026-09-01 01:20 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Brandon NakashimaAlex MichelsenPlayer 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
- 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.
Court & schedule: Grandstand, 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.