Day 8 saw the first four quarter-final places decided, and the American contingent continues to do well.
The biggest result came from Frances Tiafoe, who finally solved the Daniil Medvedev problem with an excellent straight-sets win on his favourite Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Carlos Alcaraz was even more convincing against Tommy Paul. This had the potential to be a testing match after four months out, but he made it pretty routine and is now firmly looking like the man to beat.
Ben Shelton also produced his best tennis of the tournament to end Stefanos Tsitsipas’ unexpected run, setting up a very interesting quarter-final with Alcaraz.
Elsewhere, Alex Michelsen continues to fly somewhat under the radar, beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final and guarantee an American semi-finalist when he faces Tiafoe.
Here’s a look at all the Day 8 results and the matches that stood out.
Day Eight US Open 2026 Round of 16 Results
Key Match Recap
Frances Tiafoe def. Daniil Medvedev 7-6(1), 6-4, 7-6(8)
The standout result of Day 8 came from Frances Tiafoe, who finally got the better of Daniil Medvedev, and did it in straight sets.
Medvedev had won six of their previous seven meetings, and even though he’s had a poor season, purely based on H2H and how comfortably he’d moved through the opening rounds, I fancied him to come through this one as well.
Instead, Tiafoe played one of his best matches of the season. He matched Medvedev from the baseline, defended extremely well when he had to and, most importantly, produced the better tennis in both tiebreaks.
The first set was the key one. Medvedev served for it at 6-5 but couldn’t close, and Tiafoe then completely ran away with the breaker 7-1.
The third-set tiebreak was much tighter, but Tiafoe saved a set point at 5-6 with some excellent net play, followed it with a ridiculous passing shot and closed it out on his first match point.
He’s now 10-0 on Louis Armstrong, so maybe the USTA should just let him play every remaining match there.
As for Meddy, he played a pretty average match. He still had some decent chances, especially in the first, but some poor decisions proved costly for him.
Carlos Alcaraz def. Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
Carlos Alcaraz passed his first proper test of the tournament with a super convincing straight-sets win over Tommy Paul.
Paul normally makes this matchup competitive and had beaten Alcaraz twice before, but after a fairly even opening nine games, the Spaniard took control and never really gave it back.
Once Alcaraz broke to win the first set, his return pressure became relentless. He broke twice early in the second and again at the start of the third, constantly forcing Paul to play from uncomfortable positions.
The final numbers were destructive, with Alcaraz hitting 33 winners to Paul’s 18. Carlos had far too much in the locker, trading heavy groundstrokes and coming out on top, while throwing in his trademark forehand drop shot to further bamboozle Paul, who didn’t really have any answers.
You wouldn’t really know he hasn’t played in four months, and he’s gone from being a slight question mark before the tournament to looking like the obvious man to beat.
Ben Shelton def. Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ surprisingly good US Open run finally came to an abrupt end against Ben Shelton.
After three four-set wins to start the tournament, Shelton produced by far his cleanest performance, winning in under two hours without facing a single break point.
The lefty forehand into Tsitsipas’ one-handed backhand was predictably effective, and Shelton was able to use that pattern repeatedly before opening up the forehand side.
Tsitsipas received a visit from the trainer late in the second set, but even before then Shelton was comfortably the better player.
Eleven aces, 83% of first-serve points won, and no break points faced is a tidy night’s work.
Alcaraz is next, and I think we’ll see whether Shelton is the real deal or still has holes in his game.
Alex Michelsen def. Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-4
Alex Michelsen reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final without dropping a set.
Etcheverry made the opening set difficult and had chances in a lengthy tiebreak, but Michelsen edged it and was the more composed player from there.
He found the necessary break in each of the next two sets and never allowed the Argentine to turn it into more of a physical battle.
After wins over Nakashima, Merida and now Etcheverry, Michelsen is into the last eight without receiving anywhere near the attention of the other Americans.
That will change now, because Frances Tiafoe is next, and it guarantees an American semi-finalist from this section.
Highlights
US Open 2026 Day 9 Round of 16 Matches
- Alexander Zverev [1] v Luciano Darderi [21] — Arthur Ashe Stadium, 7:00 PM
- Arthur Gea v Botic van de Zandschulp — Grandstand, not before 4:30 PM
- Karen Khachanov v Learner Tien [14] — Louis Armstrong Stadium, not before 4:00 PM
- Francisco Cerundolo [24] v Alexander Blockx [28] — Arthur Ashe Stadium, not before 1:00 PM
