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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Marta Kostyuk vs Storm Hunter — 6-4 6-1
 Marta Kostyuk✓ | 6 | 6 |
 Storm Hunter | 4 | 1 |
Final · Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Kostyuk led 4-1, wobbled, and closed the opening set when Hunter double-faulted on set point. Everything after that ran one way: eight aces to none, 22 winners to eight, 61% of her second-serve points against Hunter's 38%, and a second set that cost the qualifier all but one game. Sixty-seven minutes on the Grandstand for the 11th seed, who reached the semi-finals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.
Marta KostyukRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 128 is the widest the net ever gets: 64 matches a draw, spread across three days, every seed in action and every qualifier playing the biggest match of the year. This half of the bracket filled in late — qualifying ran a day long after rain pushed the last round to Friday, so these names were still blank slots on draw night. First-round losers leave with $140,000. The winner draws Stephens or Tauson in the Round of 64.
What we know now
Court: Grandstand
Match length: 1:07
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.
Kostyuk is the 11th seed and world No. 11, 33–8 this season — the best winning percentage in this quarter — and a fourth-rounder here in 2025. Hunter is a 32-year-old left-handed qualifier better known as a doubles player, ranked 169th in singles, 13–9 on the year. They met once, in Prague qualifying in 2020, and Kostyuk won 6-0 6-0. Grandstand on Sunday; this should be short.
The case for Marta Kostyuk
89% to winThirty-three wins and eight losses, a top-11 ranking, a fourth round here last year, and a 6-0 6-0 win over this exact opponent. There is no version of the form guide that favours the qualifier.
The case for Storm Hunter
11% to winHunter is left-handed and one of the best volleyers in the draw — a genuine grass-and-hard doubles specialist who can shorten points in a way baseliners dislike. Their meeting was six years ago on clay, when she was a different player, and 13–9 is respectable singles form.
Both cases written 2026-08-29, 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: Marta Kostyuk to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The 11th seed at 33–8, against a doubles specialist she beat 6-0 6-0 the only time they met.”
Locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Marta KostyukStorm HunterPlayer 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 2026-08-28.
Storylines
- Kostyuk won their only meeting 6-0 6-0 — Prague qualifying, 2020, on clay.
- Hunter, 32, is primarily a doubles player and is into a US Open main draw through singles qualifying.
- Kostyuk's 33–8 season is the best winning percentage in this quarter of the draw.
Head to head
One meeting: Prague qualifying, 2020, Kostyuk 6-0 6-0 on clay.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Court & schedule: Grandstand, Sunday 30 August. 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 2026-08-28)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — was forecast at 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that could not be pushed back. The rain came in the morning and stopped before the final, which Ashe played with its roof open. It cleared from there: 15% overnight, 15% Monday, then dry and sunny. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.