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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Arantxa Rus vs Leolia Jeanjean — 7-6(6) 6-2
 Leolia Jeanjean✓ | 7 | 6 |
 Arantxa Rus | 66 | 2 |
Final · Tuesday, September 1, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Leolia Jeanjean is 31, ranked 127th, and in the draw on the wild card the French federation trades with the USTA each year. This was her third US Open and her first win at one. Arantxa Rus, 35 and ranked 204th, had come through qualifying and had the first set on her racquet: she held a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak, lost the next three points, and never led again. Rain interrupted play late in that set, and drizzle was threatening when Jeanjean closed the match out with an ace, having been broken to love at 4-1 in the second and broken straight back. Rus hit 23 winners to Jeanjean's 13 and lost anyway, undone by 29 unforced errors and by an opponent who took all three break points she earned. Jeanjean's knee dislocated three ways when she was 14, cost her a year, then relapsed and cost her the sponsors and the federation with it; she rebuilt through American college tennis, graduated from Lynn University in 2019 and came back to the tour in 2021. Her only Grand Slam third round is still Roland-Garros 2022.
Arantxa RusRows 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 Potapova or Valentová in the Round of 64.
What we know now
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.
Rus is 35, left-handed, ranked 203rd and through qualifying; Jeanjean is 31, on a wild card at 127th, and 12–12 this season against Rus's 2–4. The career records tell the older story — Rus has 226 hard-court matches on her ledger and a losing record in them (95–131), Jeanjean 57 and 26–31. Current form and the wild card point to Jeanjean; the left-handed awkwardness and three qualifying wins keep Rus close. Jeanjean in three.
The case for Arantxa Rus
36% to winRus is left-handed, which at this level is still worth a game a set, and she has three wins on these courts this week where Jeanjean has none. She has also been to a US Open second round; Jeanjean lost in the first round in her only previous appearance.
The case for Leolia Jeanjean
64% to winJeanjean is 12–12 this season against 2–4, 76 ranking places higher, and four years younger. Rus's career hard-court record is 95–131 — a losing one — and hard courts have never been where she does her best work.
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: Leolia Jeanjean to advance ✓ RIGHT
“A 12–12 season against a 2–4 one, and an opponent with a losing career record on the surface.”
Locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Arantxa RusLeolia JeanjeanPlayer 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
- Rus, 35, is the oldest woman in the singles draw and got in through qualifying.
- Jeanjean, 31, is here on a wild card after losing in the first round in her only previous US Open.
- Rus's career hard-court record is 95–131; this is not her surface.
Head to head
They have never met.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Court & schedule: Court 4, Tuesday 1 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: 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.