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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Denis Shapovalov vs Luca Van Assche — 6-0 6-4 7-6(7)
 Denis Shapovalov✓ | 6 | 6 | 7 |
 Luca Van Assche | 0 | 4 | 67 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Shapovalov opened with a bagel on Court 13, his backhand doing most of the damage; L'Équipe judged him close to his old self, though the box records 36 unforced errors and nine double faults alongside 50 winners to Van Assche's 19. The Frenchman, up from 204th in the world to 40th inside twelve months and coming off a first-round win over the 29th seed Cameron Norrie, pushed back early in the second, working four break points before a lapse on the last of them. He then lost seven games in a row before holding; Shapovalov dropped serve once on an unforced error but served out the set 6-4. The third was traded blow for blow, and Van Assche's frustration surfaced in a racquet flung skyward after a lost point, but Shapovalov held his nerve to take the tiebreak 9-7 in 2hr 25min and set up a third round against Ben Shelton. He converted seven of nine break points to three of eleven.
Denis ShapovalovRows 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.
Denis Shapovalov✓Luca Van AsscheRound of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
Court: Court 13
Match length: 2:25
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.
Shapovalov, because the surface has always been his argument and it is the one thing this match-up has never tested. They have met once, at Roland Garros in 2024, and Shapovalov won it 6-3 6-4 6-4 on the clay that ought to suit Van Assche better — moving that same match onto a hard court should widen the gap, not close it. The career splits say so plainly: 196–141 on hard for the Canadian against 31–47 for the Frenchman, who is five years younger and had never won a main-draw match here before Sunday. Van Assche's first round was the better win of the two — he took out the 29th seed, Cameron Norrie, in four — and at No. 40 he is ranked eight places above an opponent whose best days at this tournament are some way behind him. But this is best-of-five on a fast court against a man who reached the quarter-finals on it six years ago.
The case for Denis Shapovalov
58% to winThe hard-court record is the case: 196–141 across a career that has taken him to a US Open quarter-final, against 31–47 for an opponent who had not won a main-draw match at this tournament until this week. Shapovalov also owns the only meeting, and he won it in straight sets on clay — the surface where the advantage should have run the other way. He came through Miomir Kecmanovic in four, which is the kind of win that says the level is there without saying the legs were spent finding it.
The case for Luca Van Assche
42% to winVan Assche is the higher-ranked man at No. 40 and has just beaten the best player either of them has faced this week: Cameron Norrie, the 29th seed, 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2 6-3 after losing the opening tiebreak. Their one meeting is two years old and on a surface neither will see again this fortnight. Shapovalov's No. 48 is the honest measure of where he is now rather than where he was in 2020, and a 14–18 season is not the record of a man who reliably closes out long matches.
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: Denis Shapovalov to advance ✓ RIGHT
“He won the only meeting in straight sets on Van Assche's better surface; on hard the split is 196–141 against 31–47.”
Locked 2026-08-31 03:00 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Denis ShapovalovLuca Van AsschePlayer 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
- Their only previous meeting was the first round of Roland Garros in 2024, which Shapovalov won 6-3 6-4 6-4 — on clay, the surface that should have favoured Van Assche.
- Van Assche's first round was the bigger upset of the two: he beat the 29th seed, Cameron Norrie, 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2 6-3.
- Shapovalov reached the US Open quarter-finals in 2020; Van Assche had never won a main-draw match here before this week.
- The hard-court split is the widest number in the match — 196–141 for Shapovalov, 31–47 for Van Assche.
Head to head
One meeting, and it was on clay: Shapovalov won 6-3 6-4 6-4 in the first round of Roland Garros in May 2024. They have never played on a hard court.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-30.
Court & schedule: Court 13, 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.