US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Mananchaya Sawangkaew vs Panna Udvardy — 6-4 6-3
 Mananchaya Sawangkaew✓ | 6 | 6 |
 Panna Udvardy | 4 | 3 |
Final · Monday, August 31, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
Udvardy hit six aces to none and lost, which is what happens alongside 35 unforced errors and five service games dropped from ten. Sawangkaew hit none of her own, made 69% of her first serves, and needed fifteen break points to convert five — the loose part of an otherwise controlled 1 hour 35 minutes on Court 6, 77 points to 66. The Thai has been good at majors this year: at Wimbledon in June she beat Maja Chwalinska and Alycia Parks to reach the third round, where Karolina Muchova stopped her. Nothing beyond the result had been written about this one when the page went up.
Mananchaya SawangkaewRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
Round of 128 in the draw's understory: a withdrawal (Mboko's knee) opened the door for Sawangkaew, and Udvardy is the only thing between her and a career-first US Open win. The winner meets Zhang or Fernandez in the Round of 64 — a section that rewards surviving quietly while the quarter's seeds make noise elsewhere. Sunday through Tuesday; $140,000 to the loser, a career milestone to the winner.
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.
Sawangkaew. The Thai 24-year-old stepped into the draw when Victoria Mboko's knee withdrew her, and she arrives in the field's quietest good form — 8–4 across a limited season, with a 26–17 career hard-court record that comfortably outclasses Udvardy's 11–32. The Hungarian's game was built on clay and it shows: her heavy, rolling forehand needs time this surface refuses to grant, and her 2026 (17–19) has been a season of near-misses. First meeting, low profile, real stakes — a first US Open main-draw win for either. The surface splits decide coin-flips like this more reliably than any other stat on the sheet. Sawangkaew in two, maybe dropping a loose middle stretch.
The case for Mananchaya Sawangkaew
63% to winSawangkaew's hard-court efficiency (26–17) is the best-kept secret in this corner of the draw, her light schedule means fresh legs, and her flat, compact hitting suits the court far better than her opponent's topspin. Late entry, zero pressure, better surface fit: the quiet-upset trifecta, except she may not even be the underdog.
The case for Panna Udvardy
37% to winUdvardy has played nearly a full season against tour fields (17–19) while Sawangkaew has played twelve matches — rhythm is real, and the Hungarian owns more of it. Her rolling topspin can push flat hitters off their timing, and a first-Slam-win opportunity concentrates the mind of a 27-year-old who knows how few of these chances remain.
Both cases written 2026-08-28, 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: Mananchaya Sawangkaew to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The surface splits (26–17 against 11–32) — the sheet's most reliable tiebreaker for a first-meeting coin-flip.”
Locked 2026-08-28 05:00 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Mananchaya SawangkaewPanna UdvardyPlayer 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 2026-08-27.
Storylines
- Sawangkaew entered the draw when 15th-ranked Victoria Mboko withdrew with the knee injury she suffered before Wimbledon.
- Udvardy's 11–32 career hard-court record is among the thinnest surface lines in the women's field — her career has run on clay.
- First meeting, and a first US Open main-draw win awaits the winner; neither has one.
Head to head
Never met — an ITF-circuit generation apart in geography, brought together by a withdrawal and a draw sheet.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Court & schedule: Court 6, Monday 31 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 2026-08-30)
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.