US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Arthur Rinderknech vs Jaume Munar — 7-6(4) 6-2 7-5
 Arthur Rinderknech✓ | 7 | 6 | 7 |
 Jaume Munar | 64 | 2 | 5 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Munar, a day after outlasting Terence Atmane in four hours and 53 minutes, broke twice to lead 5-2 in the first set and served for it. Rinderknech broke back, the set drifted to 5-5, and the Frenchman took the tiebreak 7-4. That was effectively the match. Rinderknech then served and hit through Munar on Court 10: a break for 3-0 and another at 5-2 for 6-2, and in a third set where neither man was broken until 5-5, he broke and served it out on his first match point. He finished with 22 aces and 66 winners to Munar's three and 25, won 85% of points behind his first serve, and could afford 33 unforced errors against the Spaniard's 15. It was Rinderknech's tenth career win at the US Open, more than he has at the other three majors combined, and a second straight year in the third round here, where Daniil Medvedev awaits. Three hours and six minutes.
Arthur RinderknechRows 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.
Arthur Rinderknech✓Jaume MunarRound 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.
Rinderknech, on recovery time as much as anything. These two are a genuine coin-flip on paper — 1–1 lifetime, both meetings on hard courts, career records within a few matches of each other — so the tiebreaker is what each of them spent to get here. Munar came from two sets down to beat Terence Atmane 6-7(5) 3-6 6-1 7-6(4) 7-5; Rinderknech dropped the opening tiebreak to Sho Shimabukuro and then closed it out in four. The seeded Frenchman is also the bigger server by five inches of height, which is the shot that travels best on this surface and the one that costs least to hit. Munar's counter is that he owns the more recent meeting, in Miami last year, and that both men reached the fourth round here in 2025 — this is familiar ground for each of them. It should be close. It should also be shorter for the man who has spent less.
The case for Arthur Rinderknech
53% to winThe Frenchman is the seed, the higher-ranked player at No. 29, and the one with the better career hard-court record — 87–90 against Munar's 68–91. Thin margins, but they point the same way, and they sit on top of a serve delivered from 6′5″ on the fastest surface either man plays. Most of all he is fresher: four sets against Shimabukuro, against five from two down for Munar. Their one meeting on Rinderknech's terms, Metz in 2022, he won 6-2 2-6 7-5.
The case for Jaume Munar
47% to winMunar has the more recent win — 6-3 7-6(5) at the Miami Masters in March 2025, on a hard court, in straight sets — and he has just proved he can survive a bad start at this tournament: two sets down to Atmane, and through in five anyway. He matches Rinderknech's fourth round here last year, so neither man is out of his depth at this stage of this event. A five-setter cuts both ways, too: the legs are heavier, but the timing is grooved, and Munar has now spent the better part of four hours reading this court's bounce while his opponent spent rather less.
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: Arthur Rinderknech to advance ✓ RIGHT
“A coin-flip on ratings and a 1–1 head-to-head, decided by the recovery gap — four sets against five from two down — and the bigger serve.”
Locked 2026-08-31 03:00 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Arthur RinderknechJaume MunarPlayer 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 2026-08-30.
Storylines
- A 1–1 rivalry split across hard courts: Munar won 6-3 7-6(5) at the Miami Masters in March 2025; Rinderknech won 6-2 2-6 7-5 at Metz in September 2022.
- Munar came from two sets down to beat Terence Atmane 6-7(5) 3-6 6-1 7-6(4) 7-5 in the first round; Rinderknech lost the opening tiebreak to Sho Shimabukuro and won the next three sets.
- Both men reached the Round of 16 here in 2025 — the best US Open result of either career.
- Rinderknech carries the better career hard-court record, 87–90 to Munar's 68–91, on the surface that most rewards his height.
Head to head
One apiece, both on hard courts: Munar won 6-3 7-6(5) in the first round at Miami in March 2025; Rinderknech won 6-2 2-6 7-5 in the second round at Metz in September 2022.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-30.
Court & schedule: Court 10, 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.