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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 64
Zachary Svajda vs 
Arthur Gea
Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Arthur Gea to advance · locked 2026-09-02 23:55 UTCPrediction
Two players ranked seven places apart with nothing between them on paper, and the numbers underneath say Gea. He is 21, in the draw as a lucky loser, playing his first US Open, and 16-4 on hard courts this season — a record neither man's ranking reflects. He got here the hard way, from two sets to one down against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, winning the last two 6-3 6-1. Svajda is the older, more settled player: 23, ranked 80th, a San Diego junior who has been on this site every year since he was 17, and coming off the best win of his week over Daniel Altmaier, a four-setter shredded by rain and by Altmaier's illness. His hard-court career record is 52-45, respectable and unremarkable. Gea's is 16-4 in a single season. That is a very small sample and a very loud one, and the Elo tables like him by about nine points a set. Svajda's case is the home crowd and the fact that Gea, like Bu on the next court, was not supposed to be here at all.
The case for Zachary Svajda
42% to winSvajda has played a US Open every year since 2019 and knows exactly what a second Wednesday feels like; Gea has never played one. He came through a four-setter without dropping a level when his opponent's health turned it into a stop-start match, converting six of thirteen break points and holding 79% of his first serves. He is the smaller man but the better mover, and an American in the second round of the US Open gets a court and a crowd.
The case for Arthur Gea
58% to winGea is 16-4 on hard courts this season and 17-8 overall — the best twelve months of anyone in this half of the draw outside the seeds. He beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo from two sets to one down in five, which answers the fitness question before it is asked, and at 21 he is the more improving player by a distance. The Elo tables have him nearly a hundred points clear of Svajda despite ranking seven places below him.
Both cases written 2026-09-02, 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
Zachary SvajdaArthur GeaPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
The briefing
Storylines
- Both men reached the second round for the first time this week; Gea is playing his first US Open at all.
- Gea is in the draw as a lucky loser and beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo from two sets to one down, 6-3 2-6 3-6 6-3 6-1.
- Svajda beat Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-1 6-7(5) 6-2 in a match twice interrupted by rain and marked by an Altmaier medical timeout.
- Gea is 16-4 on hard courts this season; Svajda is 52-45 on them for his career.
- They have never played each other.
Head to head
They have never met.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
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: Court 6, Thursday 3 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: Wednesday night is wet: showers and thunderstorms likely at 64% on a low near 72°F, which is the night session's problem and the roofs' answer. Thursday stays unsettled — 83°F, showers and thunderstorms likely, again at 64% — and eases to 33% overnight. Friday improves without quite clearing: mostly sunny and 82°F, with a slight shower chance at 23%. Saturday is the clean day, sunny and 78°F on 2%, and Sunday is sunny at 74°F. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-02)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 men's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents carrying form rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
Round of 32