US Open tennis 2026: Sabalenka, Tiafoe and Shelton advance on day four - as it happened

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Jaime Faria’s serve has fallen apart on him – he’s up to eight double faults on the night – and Carlos Alcaraz is in control, leading 4-6, 6-0, 5-2. Our blog has to call it a night, but you can find all of the Guardian’s US Open coverage here.

We’ll be back tomorrow, where there’s another packed slate in New York. Coco Gauff, Alexandra Eala, Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils – in what could be his final grand slam match ever – and Iga Świątek are among the big names in action.

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Updated at 22.35 EDT

That’s the kind of response Carlos Alcaraz needed in the second set. The Spaniard put on a clinic, winning 6-love and spinning Jaime Faria out of the confidence he had gained in the first set. Faria’s serve was his strength in the opening as he averaged 120mph and got two aces. In the second, he had four double faults and his average speed ticked down to 114mph. The early break was huge for Alcaraz; he’ll want another to get going in the third.

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Updated at 22.02 EDT

Tiafoe defeats Sakamoto

Frances Tiafoe is into the third round after a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 win over Rei Sakamoto. He’ll be pleased that this match required significantly fewer dramatics than his opening-round five-set, ending-well-after-midnight-local-time thriller against Martin Damm Jr. (As is Linda Noskova, next up on Armstrong. As are we, the US East Coast viewing public who want today’s play to end at a normal hour.) He’ll face the winner of Valentin Vacherot v Kamil Majchrzak, who split the first two sets and are tied 4-4 in the third.

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Updated at 22.00 EDT

After a solid hold, Carlos Alcaraz gets his first break of the night. In the first game, he wrestled back from 15-40 and two break points and gave the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd a big “Vamos”. He then forced Faria’s first service game of the second set to deuce and lobbed a forehand high past his opponent on the ad-point. He won the third game with a crosscourt overhead to go up 3-love. That’s a strong response by the Spaniard.

Elsewhere: Frances Tiafoe has a chance to break Rei Sakamoto for their match on Armstrong, while Australian Maya Joint saved match point against Elina Svitolina and won the second set in a tiebreak. It’s the first time Joint has ever won a set against a top-10 player. That match is 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) entering the third.

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Jaime Faria has won the first set against Carlos Alcaraz 6-4. That was a confident first set from the Portuguese man, especially after the hold and break in the middle. Alcaraz’s forehand and serve look far from his best at the moment – he had three unforced errors on his forehand, and Faria held to love to serve out the set.

Alcaraz gets a nice crosscourt forehand winner on the second point to open the second set, but Faria responds a point later with an equally nice overhead.

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Jaime Faria follows a big hold with a big break. The sixth and seventh games combined lasted about 20 minutes. (It’s not impossible that this first set goes as long as Aryna Sabalenka’s entire match earlier.) Alcaraz’s forehand and serve looked a little shaky in that game.

Elsewhere, Frances Tiafoe is up 2-1 in the third set against Rei Sakamoto, and Elina Svitolina is locked in a close second set against Maya Joint. Svitolina won the first set 6-2, and Joint is serving for the second at 5-4.

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Carlos Alcaraz put up a good fight to try for the match’s first break, but Jaime Faria held through the 14-point game to keep the first set even. That’s a big hold, despite two double faults.

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Tsitsipas beats Harris

We’re only through two rounds, but Stefanos Tsitsipas is having himself a nice US Open. He started with an upset of No 10 seed Arthur Fils in the first round and has followed it up tonight by taking down Lloyd Harris 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. The Greek man is into a grand slam third round for the first time since Roland Garros 2024 and the US Open third round for the first time in five years. Tsitsipas’s backhand finally looks to be working again, and he’s fun to watch when he’s locked in.

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Carlos Alcaraz holds in both of his service games and it’s 2-1 to start. He didn’t drop a point in either of those games, and his serve is looking good so far: he’s averaging a speed of 109mph and won the third game with an ace.

Tiafoe Update: the American finally got a well-earned break in the second set and is up 6-5. This second set has been tighter than the first, but if he can hold serve against Rei Sakamoto, he’ll have a comfortable at two sets to love.

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Carlos Alcaraz is in the same brown basketball-inspired kit for this match.

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Updated at 20.38 EDT

It’s almost time for Carlos Alcaraz v Jaime Faria at Ashe.

Alcaraz looked good on Monday in his first match after four months away with a wrist injury. The Spaniard said he was “pain-free” in his opener, a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Roman Safiullin. We’ll see if he can continue that play tonight. An area to watch will be his serve. He kept his serves at a low speed – just as he had in the mixed doubles with Serena Williams last week – averaging just 113mph behind his first serve.

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Lehecka holds off Samuel

No 18 seed Jiri Lehecka has beaten Toby Samuel in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. The 23-year-old Brit was looking to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time but falls short.

Lehecka, a quarter-finalist in New York last year, will face either Lloyd Harris or Stefanos Tsitsipas. That match is a good one right now: Tsitsipas is up two sets to one, having pulled out the third in a tiebreak.

Frances Tiafoe and Rei Sakamoto are locked in a tight second set on Armstrong.

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“It’s always the best atmosphere,” Aryna Sabalenka tells the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd after her win. “I’m happy with the level I played today, happy with the focus.”

She’ll face Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan in the third round.

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Sabalenka defeats Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1

We thought Karolina Muchova’s 6-1, 6-0 battering of Katie Boulter in 58 minutes would be the most dominant match we’d see today. This one may take the edge.

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka made quick work of qualifier Polina Iatcenko, needing just 53 minutes. It’s one of Sabalenka’s quickest matches this year: per Tennis Abstract, it’s just the third match in 2026 she has played that lasted less than an hour. Iatcenko, in her first year playing in the main draw, didn’t offer much of a threat, and Sabalenka dominated with 24 winners, three aces and eight of 11 net points won. She still had some moments of frustration; both players finished with 16 unforced errors. But Sabalenka gets a quick, confident win – the kind she’s been looking for amid a choppy stretch of play since her spring double at Indian Wells and Miami – and her win streak at the US Open improves to 16 straight matches.

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Updated at 20.20 EDT

Aryna Sabalenka lets her service game go to deuce, but responds with an emphatic forehand winner and then watches Polina Iatcenko’s return land long. She’ll have a chance to break Iatchenko for the match.

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Updated at 20.05 EDT

Three unforced errors in a row for Aryna Sabalenka gave Polina Iatcenko the break at 1-3, but Sabalenka returned with a few ruthless winners to break her right back.

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Updated at 20.00 EDT

Aryna Sabalenka is rolling. Have you heard that already? Polina Iatcenko is looking a bit overwhelmed, down 0-3 in the second set. She has five unforced errors this set. Sabalenka will serve to try to go up 4-0.

Tiafoe Alert: the American won the first set 6-3.

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Updated at 19.55 EDT

Polina Iatcenko got on the board and earned a nice applause from the Ashe crowd, but Aryna Sabalenka held her serve and took the set 6-1. The world No 1 is moving fast: the first set took just 24 minutes. She isn’t letting Iatcenko play any long rallies, and she’s come up to the net after her serve on several points to win with volleys. Sabalenka is 29-2 when she wins the first set at the US Open. She let Camila Osorio climb back into the match during the second set of their first-rounder, so we’ll see if anything similar plays out tonight, but she’s looked dominant thus far.

Elsewhere, Frances Tiafoe is up 5-2 on Rei Sakamoto. Their fifth game went to six deuces and 18 points before a pair of unforced errors ruined Sakamoto’s chance for a break.

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Updated at 19.45 EDT

Aryna Sabalenka is rolling. She’s up 5-0 in the first. Twelve winners, 23 points won.

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Shapovalov and Jovic advance

That’s a nice win for Denis Shapovalov to set up a third-round meeting with Ben Shelton. The Canadian was up 5-1 in the third set before letting Luca Van Assche climb back into the match and force a tiebreak. The final was 6-0, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). In the women’s draw, rising American star Iva Jovic beat Magdalena Fręch 7-5, 6-3. Jovic will face Brit Francesca Jones in the second round.

With that, the longest first round in US Open history is over.

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Opponents of Aryna Sabalenka can watch their matches snowball quickly if they give up an early break. Polina Iatcenko may be the latest to learn that tonight. Sabalenka is up 3-0 after just 11 minutes. She delivered a 106mph serve for the hold.

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After having his tournament opener against Andrea Guerrieri postponed until day four, Alex de Minaur had to endure another two-hour rain delay before putting away the Italian qualifier in straight sets.

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No orange for Sabalenka tonight! She’s opted for the black Nike set instead.

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After a rainy two days at Flushing Meadows, the roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium is open for tonight’s matches. Aryna Sabalenka enters with a 15-match winning streak at the US Open. Polina Iatcenko is playing in the main draw here for the first time.

In some other quick updates from around the grounds, Stefanos Tsitsipas rallied to win the second set against Lloyd Harris. Brit Toby Samuel is trailing Jiri Lehecka 4-6, 1-5.

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Updated at 19.50 EDT

Hello from New York! I’m here to keep you updated for the big matches of the night session.

Aryna Sabalenka continues her quest for a third US Open title against qualifier Polina Iatcenko in the first match on Ashe. The world No 1 – for now – eased through the first set of her opening match against Camila Osorio and faced some bumps in the second, but managed to sail through.

After her, Carlos Alcaraz faces Portugal’s Jaime Faria. He looked strong in his opener against Roman Safiullin on Monday, his first match back from a four-month injury layoff. The Spaniard won in straight sets, and his wrist seemed to hold up against Safiullin’s heavy ground strokes.

There’s a good list of other matches happening tonight that I’ll be monitoring: Elina Svitolina v Maya Joint, Lanlana Tararuddee v Linda Noskova, Rei Sakamoto v Frances Tiafoe among them.

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Ella will be here shortly to take you through those matches, along with the unresolved business from the day session, with Jovic a set up, Tsitsipas a set down and Samuel a break down at 5-4 in the opening set having led Lehecka 3-1. And all of this after wins for Ben Shelton, Jessica Pegula, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur, Jasmine Paolini, Marta Kostyuk, Emma Navarro and Britain’s Fran Jones, but defeats for Andrey Rublev, Rafael Jodar and the British trio of Katie Boulter, Jan Choinski and Jacob Fearnley. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Bye!

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Updated at 18.51 EDT

Carlos Alcaraz, with significantly more hair than he had this time last year, has been practising on Arthur Ashe, which means the night session is not far away. He’s on second, after the other defending champ, Aryna Sabalenka, while it’s Frances Tiafoe and the Wimbledon winner Linda Noskova on Louis Armstrong.

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And history on Court 6, where the Peruvian Ignacio Buse has battled through in five sets to record his first win in New York and take out the American Marcos Giron, emulating his grandfather Eduardo, who last won a match at the US Open in 1958.

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Etcheverry defeats Fearnley 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Well, well. Lightning may strike twice for Fearnley. Having held for 3-5, he’s got 15-40 on Etcheverry’s serve. But Fearnley fails to convert both break points, and three points later, Etcheverry has match point. The Argentinian’s ball toss goes awry, but he still manages to slam down an unreturned serve. Fearnley can’t pull off another escape to victory.

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As for the two remaining Brits in action today: Fearnley is close to defeat, two sets to one and 5-2 down against Etcheverry, but don’t count him out just yet; he was trailing Martin Landaluce by exactly the same score in the first round, before improbably coming back to win in five. And Toby Samuel is under way against Jiri Lehecka, so far faring better than Katie Boulter did against Lehecka’s fellow Czech Karolina Muchova, because he leads 3-1.

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