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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Ben Shelton vs Hubert Hurkacz — 6-3 5-7 7-6(3) 7-5
 Ben Shelton✓ | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 |
 Hubert Hurkacz | 3 | 7 | 63 | 5 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Hurkacz, unseeded and ranked 47th but a former world No. 6, made this awkward for Shelton on Arthur Ashe by standing well back to return and taking the sting out of the American's serve. Shelton took the first set 6-3; Hurkacz, returning deep and missing very little from the baseline, took the second 7-5. The last two sets were serve-dominated and tight, and Shelton won both of the moments that mattered: the third-set tiebreak 7-3, then a break of Hurkacz serving to stay in the match at 5-6 in the fourth, which he celebrated loudly. The numbers were nearly level — 47 winners for Hurkacz to Shelton's 44, 133 points to 144, over 3hr 24min. Shelton, who had also dropped the opening set before beating Tallon Griekspoor in four on Monday, is into the US Open third round for a fourth straight year and will play Denis Shapovalov.
Ben SheltonRows 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.
Ben Shelton✓Hubert HurkaczRound of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
Court: Arthur Ashe Stadium
Match length: 3:24
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 big servers who have never played each other, and one of them is having much the better year. Shelton is the eighth seed at No. 9 with four titles in 2026 on three surfaces, including a straight-sets title defence in Toronto a fortnight ago, and he recovered from losing the first set in under half an hour on Monday to beat Tallon Griekspoor in four, serving at up to 148 mph and winning 86% of the points behind his first delivery. Hurkacz beat Damir Dzumhur 6-4 4-6 6-1 6-1 and has been quietly poor all season — 16-17, ranked 47th, and, for a player who has reached a Wimbledon semi-final, never past the second round at Flushing Meadows. The serve makes any match with him a few points either way, and Shelton's own first set on Monday shows how quickly he can lose the thread. But the left-handed serve into the ad court is the best shot on this card, and it is the seed who owns it.
The case for Ben Shelton
73% to winFour titles this year on hard, grass and clay, a Toronto defence completed without dropping a set, and a semi-final here in 2023. Shelton won 86% of his first-serve points against Griekspoor and hit the fastest serve of the tournament so far. Hurkacz has a losing record on the season and has never been past the second round at this event in his career.
The case for Hubert Hurkacz
27% to winHurkacz has 173 career hard-court wins and a serve that has taken him to a Wimbledon semi-final and past top-ten players on quick courts; on a day when the returns are not landing, that is enough against anyone. Shelton lost the first set on Monday in twenty-nine minutes and was broken three times in it. If Wednesday's forecast holds and the roof is closed, the ball slows and the rallies lengthen — which suits the steadier ball-striker, not the bigger hitter.
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: Ben Shelton to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The best serve in the match belongs to the seed having the better year, and there is no head-to-head to argue otherwise.”
Locked 2026-09-01 09:45 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Ben SheltonHubert HurkaczPlayer 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 2026-09-01.
Storylines
- They have never met at tour level.
- Shelton beat Tallon Griekspoor 1-6 6-1 7-6(3) 6-2 after losing the opening set in under half an hour, and hit a 148 mph serve.
- Shelton has won four titles in 2026 — Dallas, Munich, Stuttgart and the National Bank Open — on three different surfaces.
- Hurkacz has reached a Wimbledon semi-final but has never been past the second round of the US Open.
- Hurkacz is 16-17 on the season and ranked 47th; Shelton is 33-14 and ranked ninth.
Head to head
They have never met.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-01.
Court & schedule: Arthur Ashe Stadium, 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 2026-09-01)
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.