US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 128
Tamara Zidansek vs 
Maria Timofeeva
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Maria Timofeeva to advance · locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTCPrediction
Timofeeva is 92nd and 12–14 on the season, making her US Open main-draw debut; Zidansek is a 146th-ranked qualifier, 8–7, who reached the second round here in 2021 and has 134 career hard-court matches to Timofeeva's 43. The hard-court Elos are 32 points apart — essentially level. Experience on the site and three qualifying wins nudge it, but this is the closest women's match in the batch. Timofeeva in three, narrowly.
The case for Tamara Zidansek
46% to winZidansek has played here before, has 134 career hard-court matches against 43, and has three wins on these courts this week. A 32-point Elo gap is nothing, and she is the one with a US Open second round behind her.
The case for Maria Timofeeva
54% to winTimofeeva is 54 ranking places higher, four years younger and 12–14 against 8–7 — comparable form against better opposition. She also arrives without a week of qualifying in the legs, which in a three-set match on a warm afternoon is the tiebreak.
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.
Tale of the tape
Tamara ZidansekMaria TimofeevaPlayer 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.
The briefing
Storylines
- A 32-point hard-court Elo gap — the closest women's matchup in this batch.
- Timofeeva is making her US Open main-draw debut at 22.
- Zidansek's second round here in 2021 is the only US Open main-draw experience on the court.
Head to head
They have never met. Their hard-court Elo ratings are 32 points apart.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Watch: Opening-round coverage runs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, including the whip-around channel that only exists in the early rounds. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Not yet assigned. Days one and two of the main draw are on the board; this match falls in the back half of the first round, and the US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before. (Official US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-28)
Weather: The forecast cooled since the draw: Sunday opens partly sunny near 80°F with a slight shower chance after 2 p.m., and a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms arrives with Sunday night. Monday is similar at 81°F, and the storm odds climb through Tuesday and Wednesday. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs; the field courts wait. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-28)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
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 Quevedo or Mertens in the Round of 64.
