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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Karolina Muchova vs 
Katie Boulter
Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Karolina Muchova to advance · locked 2026-08-31 17:45 UTCPrediction
Muchova, and the first round was a demonstration. She beat Sinja Kraus 6-3 6-0 in 58 minutes on the Grandstand without facing a break point, taking 54 of the 80 points — and it was her first singles match since the Wimbledon final she lost to Linda Noskova on 11 July, fifty-one days earlier. She has not been idle in between: she won the mixed doubles at this tournament last week with Jakub Mensik. Boulter took a much harder road, 6-4 3-6 6-0 over Carol Young Suh Lee in 2 hours 35 minutes on Court 5, with no aces and seven double faults and seventeen break points needed to convert five — though the bagel at the end says she found it eventually. The ratings put it near 72–28 to the seventh seed and their only meeting, Miami in March, went 6-3 7-5 to Muchova. Boulter's serve on a good day is the one thing that changes the arithmetic; Monday was not a good day for it.
The case for Karolina Muchova
72% to winMuchova is the seventh seed, No. 7 in the world, 35–10 on the season, a US Open semi-finalist in 2024 and a Wimbledon finalist two months ago. She won their only previous meeting 6-3 7-5 in Miami in March. Her first round cost her 58 minutes and no break points, and her variety — the slice, the drop shot, the willingness to come forward — is precisely what a big first serve cannot protect against once the rally starts. On this evidence the layoff has cost her nothing.
The case for Katie Boulter
28% to winBoulter is 109–88 on hard courts and has beaten top-ten players on them before; when her serve is working it takes the rally out of Muchova's hands entirely, which is the only reliable way to beat her. She also won a match on Sunday in which almost nothing was working — no aces, seven double faults, twelve break points squandered — and still closed it 6-0. Muchova, meanwhile, is playing her second singles match in seven weeks and has a long history of bodies giving way at majors.
Both cases written 2026-08-31, 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
Karolina MuchovaKatie BoulterPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-31.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
The briefing
Storylines
- Muchova's first-round win was her first singles match since losing the Wimbledon final to Linda Noskova on 11 July — but she won the US Open mixed doubles with Jakub Mensik in Fan Week in between.
- She beat Sinja Kraus 6-3 6-0 in 58 minutes without facing a break point.
- Boulter needed 2 hours 35 minutes, no aces and seven double faults to get past Carol Young Suh Lee — then took the third set 6-0.
- Their only meeting was the second round at Miami in March 2026, 6-3 7-5 to Muchova.
- Muchova is a two-time US Open semi-finalist; Boulter's best here is the third round in 2023.
Head to head
Muchova leads 1–0, from their only meeting: 6-3 7-5 in the second round at Miami in March 2026, on a hard court.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Watch: Second-round coverage runs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, which is where a match away from the two show courts will live. (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, and this match has not reached the board yet. (Official US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-31)
Weather: Rain is the story of the week's opening, and it is forecast to get worse before it clears. Showers and thunderstorms are likely overnight — 72% under a low near 72°F — and Tuesday is the worst day on the board: near 81°F with storms likely through the day, 67%, and again after dark at 64%. Wednesday is the break in it, near 76°F on a 26% chance of showers, with a slight chance of storms returning overnight; Thursday is warm and unsettled again, near 84°F on 53%. Friday is the first clean day of the fortnight — near 82°F and mostly sunny after an early 15%. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-31)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 women's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents with form behind them rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
Round of 32