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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 32
Daniil Medvedev vs Arthur Rinderknech — 6-4 6-4 6-4
| Daniil Medvedev✓ | 6 | 6 | 6 |
 Arthur Rinderknech | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Final · Friday, September 4, 2026 · Round of 32
Result
Rinderknech held his first two service games to love and broke for 4-2 — the first service game Medvedev had dropped all tournament. Then the wind got up and funnelled into the Grandstand, and he handed the break straight back. Medvedev took four games in a row to close the set, a forehand pass down the line bringing up the break points at 4-4. The pattern held: Rinderknech played one poor game in the second, a double fault and a badly judged forehand volley in it, and won four return points in the whole third set. He finished with forty-one unforced errors to Medvedev's eighteen and won 23% of his second-serve points. Medvedev, who won 85% behind his first serve, put the swing down to the conditions — the wind troubled them both, he told AFP, but "I think he had a bit more trouble than me, because his game is more about power." It is Medvedev's seventh US Open fourth round, on a week when he had arrived off one win in four in the North American swing. He plays Valentin Vacherot or Frances Tiafoe next; Vacherot is Rinderknech's cousin.
Rows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 32 is the third round, and the last one before a Grand Slam draw becomes a small tournament: sixteen men's matches across Friday and Saturday leave sixteen players standing, every one of them having won twice on these courts. This is the round where the seeding chart stops doing any work — from here on, whoever is left is who you play.
Arthur RinderknechRound of 64
Round of 32
What we know now
Court: Grandstand
Match length: 1:59
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.
Medvedev has been through this draw so far without being asked a question: 6-4 6-2 6-4 over Hugo Gaston, 6-1 6-3 7-5 over the wild card Sebastian Gorzny, and a career record on hard courts of 365-132 that nobody else left in this quarter approaches. He won this tournament in 2021 and has reached three of its finals. Rinderknech, the 26th seed, has just played the best match of his fortnight and possibly his year: 22 aces and 66 winners past Jaume Munar, a first set that swung from 2-5 down to a tiebreak, and a tenth career win at the US Open — more than he has managed at the other three majors combined. They have met twice and split them, and the split is instructive: Medvedev won the first at this tournament in 2022, 6-2 7-5 6-3; Rinderknech won the most recent, in the Shanghai semi-finals last October, 4-6 6-2 6-4. Rinderknech's route to a win is 22 aces a match. Medvedev's is to make him play a third shot, which is the thing he does better than almost anyone alive.
The case for Daniil Medvedev
74% to winMedvedev is 365-132 on hard courts, a champion here and a three-time finalist, and he has dropped one set in two rounds. He returns from the back fence, which is the single worst thing that can happen to a server who needs free points; Rinderknech won 85% behind his first serve on Wednesday and will not be allowed anything like that. Medvedev is also the fresher man — 2 hours 46 minutes of tennis in two matches against Rinderknech's 3 hours 6 minutes in one.
The case for Arthur Rinderknech
26% to winRinderknech beat him nine months ago in a Masters semi-final, and he is playing better now than he was then: 22 aces, 66 winners and a hold record that never wobbled against Munar. He is 6ft 5in and hits through a court, and Medvedev's defence works best against players who need the rally. This is also Rinderknech's best tournament — ten career wins here, a fourth round last year, and a New York night session is where big serving is worth most.
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.
My locked pick: Daniil Medvedev to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The hard-court record, the depth of return and 172 Elo points; Rinderknech has beaten him once and it took the best serving week of his career.”
Locked 2026-09-02 23:55 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Player vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-04.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Storylines
- Medvedev won this tournament in 2021 and has reached three US Open finals.
- Rinderknech's win over Jaume Munar was his tenth at the US Open — more than at the other three majors combined.
- Rinderknech hit 22 aces and 66 winners in the second round; Munar managed three and 25.
- Rinderknech beat Medvedev in the Shanghai semi-finals last October, 4-6 6-2 6-4.
- Medvedev has dropped one set in two rounds, to the wild card Sebastian Gorzny.
Head to head
One each. Medvedev won their first meeting at this tournament, 6-2 7-5 6-3 in the 2022 second round; Rinderknech took the most recent, 4-6 6-2 6-4 in the Shanghai semi-finals last October.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Court & schedule: Grandstand, Friday 4 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 2026-09-03)
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.