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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Ben Shelton vs 
Hubert Hurkacz
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Ben Shelton to advance · locked 2026-09-01 09:45 UTCPrediction
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.
Tale of the tape
Ben SheltonHubert HurkaczPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-01.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-01.
The briefing
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.
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: 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: Tonight is the last of the wet weather and the worst of it: showers and thunderstorms at 84% before the sky clears to mostly cloudy on a low near 71°F. Wednesday is the break the tournament has been waiting for — near 75°F on an 18% chance of a shower — though storms creep back after dark at 65%. Thursday is the unsettled one, warm at 81°F with showers and thunderstorms likely at 65% and 53% overnight. Friday turns: near 82°F and mostly sunny on 10%, the first clean day of the fortnight, with Saturday better still. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-01)
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