Jessica Pegula defeated Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1 in 56 minutes on September 2 to reach the US Open third round. Pegula said, "I'm going for my spots, I'm going pretty big on second serves. Really excited when I can practise something and it pays off in a match" [1, 2]. Frances Tiafoe beat Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-5 in a match featuring 18 aces from Sakamoto to advance on the same day [3, 4]. Daniil Medvedev cruised past Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-3, 7-5, while Ben Shelton upset Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 to reach round three [2, 5, 6]. Alex Michelsen also pulled an upset, defeating 16th seed Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 [2, 5].
On September 3, Taylor Fritz dominated Mattia Bellucci 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the third round, but was defeated two days later by Francisco Cerundolo. Cerundolo won in five sets 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round [7, 8, 9]. After the win, Cerundolo said, "It shows you how even the circuit is right now, how tight every match is, how difficult it is to win matches, because anything can happen right now. A lot of players are playing good. The level, it's super tight. It's open to everyone. Everyone can win" [9]. Fritz expressed his frustration after the loss: "I don't even know what to say. I don't really want to talk to anybody, see anybody. I need to get out for a couple days and then get back to work" [8].
Elena Rybakina also reached the third round by defeating Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-2, 6-4 on September 3 [10]. Meanwhile, early seeds Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur, and Arthur Fils were eliminated from the men's draw [8]. Sloane Stephens lost to Marta Kostyuk in the women's second round [6].
The men's draw saw notable upsets alongside the progress of seeded players. Matches on September 2 were disrupted by rain but players including Pegula, Tiafoe, Medvedev, Shelton, and Michelsen advanced despite conditions [1, 2, 3, 11, 5, 6, 4]. Cerundolo's win over Fritz marks a significant shift as the fourth round begins.
The US Open continues with the fourth round underway as Cerundolo prepares for his next match, following the latest results today, September 5.
