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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Diana Shnaider vs 
Karolina Pliskova
Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Diana Shnaider to advance · locked 2026-08-31 20:50 UTCPrediction
Shnaider, and the two openers could not have looked more different. The 15th seed spent 1 hour 8 minutes on Daria Snigur, took the first set 6-0 in twenty minutes and broke six times from nine chances; Pliskova needed 2 hours 30 to come back from a set down against Hanne Vandewinkel, served ten double faults and won exactly as many points as she lost, 110-110. Their one previous meeting went to Shnaider, from a set down, in the Wimbledon first round in 2024. Pliskova at 34 remains the most decorated player in this section — a US Open finalist in 2016 and 329–189 on hard courts — and her serve is still the shot that can make a match one-sided in either direction. But Shnaider is a left-hander eleven places inside the top 20 with a 1892 Elo to Pliskova's 1800, and she has been to the fourth round here more recently than Pliskova has been past the second.
The case for Diana Shnaider
66% to winShnaider needed 68 minutes to Pliskova's 150, dropped four games, and broke six times from nine chances. She won their only previous meeting, coming from a set down at Wimbledon in 2024, and she is a left-hander whose serve into the Pliskova backhand is the specific problem this match asks. Pliskova's ten double faults and 43 unforced errors on Monday are the numbers a fresher opponent will look at first.
The case for Karolina Pliskova
34% to winPliskova has been the finalist at this tournament and has 329 career hard-court wins, more than four times Shnaider's total, and she has just come from a set down to win a two-and-a-half-hour match — which is to say the legs and the resolve are both there. Her serve produced seven aces against Vandewinkel and is the one shot in this match that neither player can neutralise. At 34 and ranked 57th she is also playing with nothing to protect.
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
Player 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
- Shnaider beat Daria Snigur 6-0 6-4 in 1 hour 8 minutes, taking the first set in twenty minutes.
- Pliskova came from a set down to beat Hanne Vandewinkel 2-6 7-5 6-3 in 2 hours 30, serving ten double faults and winning 110 points to 110.
- Shnaider won their only meeting, 4-6 6-4 7-5 in the Wimbledon first round in 2024.
- Pliskova was the US Open runner-up in 2016; Shnaider reached the fourth round in 2024.
- Career hard-court records: Pliskova 329–189, Shnaider 74–55.
Head to head
Shnaider leads 1-0, having come from a set down to win their only meeting 4-6 6-4 7-5 in the first round at Wimbledon in 2024.
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