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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Elena Rybakina vs Jessica Bouzas Maneiro — 6-2 6-4
 Elena Rybakina✓ | 6 | 6 |
 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro | 2 | 4 |
Final · Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Sixty-eight minutes, 109 points, and no aces at all for Bouzas Maneiro against seven for the second seed. Rybakina broke in the second game, broke again to take the first set, and led 3-1 in the second before being broken serving for it at 5-3; she broke straight back to finish. She won 81% of the points behind her first serve to her opponent's 53% — and only 30% behind her second, a split that never came to matter because the first serve landed 65% of the time. She had retired from her Cincinnati quarter-final against Iga Swiatek on 21 August with a left-leg injury, spent a week off the court, and cancelled her practice session the day before this match; she has come through two rounds since. Her best US Open result remains a fourth round, and a semi-final here would take her to world No. 1 for the first time. "I'm super glad, super happy to be here," she told AFP. Next: Yuliia Starodubtseva, who beat her in the second round at Roland Garros in May.
Elena RybakinaRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
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.
Elena Rybakina✓Jessica Bouzas ManeiroRound of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
Court: Louis Armstrong Stadium
Match length: 1:08
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
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.
Rybakina, comfortably, and the interesting question is what Bouzas Maneiro can take out of it. The second seed has two majors, 218 hard-court wins and a 43-14 record this season; she beat the 17-year-old wild card Thea Frodin 6-3 6-2 in 74 minutes without facing a break point, having been out-aced 11-6 and out-hit on winners, which is a useful description of how she wins — she does not miss and she does not give the serve back. Bouzas Maneiro is 23, ranked 105th after a season that has dropped her out of the top 100, and 14-22 for the year. She beat Darja Vidmanova 6-3 6-4, winning 80% of the points behind her second serve and hitting 22 winners to nine, and she has form for exactly this kind of match: at Wimbledon in 2024 she beat the defending champion Marketa Vondrousova in the first round, and made the third round here the same season. The one meeting between them, at the United Cup in December 2024, went to Rybakina 6-2 6-3.
The case for Elena Rybakina
92% to winRybakina is the world No. 2, a two-time major champion, and 218-95 on hard courts to Bouzas Maneiro's 32-44. She won their only meeting for the loss of five games. She faced no break point against Frodin and made 11 unforced errors in two sets; against an opponent who has won fourteen matches all year, the margin she needs is small and she already has it. Her best run here is the 2025 fourth round, which is the one line on her record that looks unfinished.
The case for Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
8% to winBouzas Maneiro has beaten a reigning Wimbledon champion in a first round before, and the way she beat Vidmanova — 80% of second-serve points won, two match points earned on the return in the tenth game — is the profile of a player who plays above her ranking when the occasion is big. Rybakina lost the aces count and the winners count in her opener; a hard-court match decided on baseline errors rather than on serve is the one Bouzas Maneiro can lengthen.
Both cases written 2026-09-02, 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: Elena Rybakina to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The world No. 2 against a player ranked 105th and 14-22 for the season, on the surface where Rybakina is 218-95 and has already beaten her.”
Locked 2026-09-02 10:30 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Elena RybakinaJessica Bouzas ManeiroPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-02.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Storylines
- Rybakina leads 1-0: she beat Bouzas Maneiro 6-2 6-3 at the United Cup in December 2024, on hard.
- Rybakina beat the 17-year-old wild card Thea Frodin 6-3 6-2 without facing a break point, despite being out-aced 11-6 and out-hit on winners.
- Bouzas Maneiro beat Darja Vidmanova 6-3 6-4, winning 80% of the points behind her second serve and taking the match on her second match point.
- Bouzas Maneiro beat the defending champion Marketa Vondrousova in the Wimbledon first round in 2024 and reached the US Open third round the same season.
- Rybakina is 43-14 for the season with two majors; Bouzas Maneiro is 14-22 and ranked 105th.
Head to head
Rybakina leads 1-0. They met once, in the United Cup round robin in December 2024, on hard: Rybakina won 6-2 6-3.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Court & schedule: Louis Armstrong Stadium, Thursday 3 September in the night session. 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 2026-09-02)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — is 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that cannot be pushed back. Ashe closes its roof and plays on. It clears overnight: 20% Sunday night, 20% Monday, then dry and sunny from Tuesday. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.