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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Jessica Pegulavs
Elena-Gabriela Ruse
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Jessica Pegula to advance · locked 2026-08-28 05:00 UTCPrediction
Pegula. The third seed arrives with a 45–12 season — among the most wins of anyone in the women's field — and a 2024 final on these courts that recalibrated what her flat, relentless baseline game could produce at this tournament. Ruse is a legitimate tour professional having a fine year (23–18) with a 2024 third round here to her name, and her aggressive baseline style can hang in rallies with anyone for stretches. What it cannot do, on any recent evidence, is out-consistent Pegula for two sets: the American's error floor is the lowest in this quarter, her return game converts pressure relentlessly, and she is at home in the borough that watched her become a finalist. First meeting. Pegula in two, brisk ones.
The case for Jessica Pegula
84% to winPegula's 2024 final here, her 45-win season and her 255–117 career hard-court record make her the third-best bet in the women's draw by nearly any measure. Her game has no donation zone — the serve is solid, the return elite, the error count microscopic. Ruse must create every point of her own offense; Pegula simply declines to give any away.
The case for Elena-Gabriela Ruse
16% to winRuse's 23–18 season is better than her ranking, her 2024 third round here proved the stage fits, and aggressive ball-striking is the only known solvent for Pegula's consistency. Nobody expects anything from her on Sunday, and players in exactly that position take the first set from favorites every year of this tournament.
Both cases written 2026-08-28, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine, quoted to a decimal because false precision is funnier — and tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
Tale of the tape
Jessica PegulaElena-Gabriela RusePlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-27.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
The briefing
Storylines
- Pegula's 2024 final here — lost to Sabalenka — anchors her third seeding; the seedings put a rematch out of reach before the semi-finals.
- Her 45–12 season is among the best win totals in the women's field entering the fortnight.
- The Round of 64 could hand Pegula a landmark opponent: Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin — both former major champions on wildcards — play next door.
Head to head
Never met — Pegula's top-five years and Ruse's tour grind hadn't crossed until now. The American's consistency against the Romanian's aggression is the whole geometry.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Watch: Opening-round coverage starts Sunday at 11 a.m. ET across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, including a whip-around channel for the early rounds. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Not yet assigned — the US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before, so day-one courts land the night of 29 August. A top-three seed's opener profiles for Ashe or Armstrong. (US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-27)
Weather: The opening window looks kind: mostly sunny and 85–86°F Sunday and Monday, with thunderstorm chances only creeping in on Tuesday. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs if the sky turns; the field courts wait it out. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-27)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
Round of 128 at the head of the second quarter: Pegula, the 2024 finalist and the home fans' steadiest hope, opens a section whose next round might produce the fortnight's most sentimental collision — Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin, two major champions on wildcards, play next door for the right to face her. The third seed's job is to make her half of that appointment routine. Sunday through Tuesday.