The 2026 US Open got underway on Sunday, and we didn’t have to wait long for the first big upset as Novak Djokovic somehow managed to lose to Mariano Navone in five sets.
It was a strange match. Djokovic looked physically shot for large parts of it, yet still found himself two sets to one and a break up before his body completely gave way. Navone deserves plenty of credit for sticking around and getting the job done, but for Djokovic, it raises yet more questions about where his game and, more importantly, his physical condition are heading.
Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev decided tennis is still preferable to pickleball as he made light work of Hugo Gaston, while Tommy Paul recovered from a slow start to move through in four.
There were also a couple of good five-set scraps, with Jaume Munar coming from two sets down to beat Terence Atmane and Dino Prizmic surviving after blowing a 5-2 lead in the fourth against Alexander Shevchenko.
Before play got fully underway, the draw also lost 2022 finalist Casper Ruud and 2014 champion Marin Cilic to injury, with Arthur Gea and Otto Virtanen taking their places as lucky losers.
Here’s a look at all the Day 1 results and its key matches.
Day One US Open 2026 Round of 128 Results
Key Match Recap
Mariano Navone def. Novak Djokovic 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
The biggest result of Day 1 came on Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Mariano Navone ousted fourth seed Novak Djokovic in five sets.
Djokovic had not lost in the opening round of a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open, and despite looking physically drained for much of the match, he still led by two sets to one and a break in the fourth.
From there, however, his condition dropped off a cliff. The 39-year-old struggled with his movement, vomited several times and later said his body had started to collapse with cramping and pain.
Navone handled the situation well and kept making Djokovic play rather than getting distracted by what was happening across the net. The Argentine created 17 break-point chances, converted six and made just 34 unforced errors compared with Djokovic’s 70.
Once Navone levelled the match, the deciding set was pretty much plain sailing. Djokovic briefly threatened to rally with the crowd behind him, but there was little left physically, and Navone closed out the biggest win of his career after four hours and 36 minutes.
It’s a poor loss for Nole, as Navone isn’t someone with a hard-court pedigree. I wasn’t exactly bullish on Nole’s chances after what he’s served up recently, but I’m not sure where he goes from here, and he needs to try to solve whatever causes his energy levels to disappear.
Daniil Medvedev def. Hugo Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
Daniil Medvedev decided to stick with tennis rather than a pickleball switch, and he avoided a repeat of last year’s first-round disaster with a controlled straight-sets win over qualifier Hugo Gaston.
Gaston is another tricky type of Frenchman, and he tried to disrupt Medvedev with changes of pace, net approaches and even an underarm serve, but the seventh seed rarely looked uncomfortable once he had settled into the match.
Medvedev served particularly well, winning 83% of his first-serve points, hitting ten aces and facing only one break point.
Given his poor run of results coming into New York, it’s exactly the sort of straightforward opening-round performance he needed.
Tommy Paul def. Coleman Wong 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
Tommy Paul had to recover from a sluggish opening set before seeing off qualifier Coleman Wong in four.
Wong took the first-set tiebreak, but Paul quickly raised his level and became increasingly dominant from the baseline as the match progressed.
The American won each of the next three sets without being seriously threatened and moved into the second round, where he will face Dino Prizmic.
Dino Prizmic def. Alexander Shevchenko 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
Dino Prizmic produced one of the best escapes of the opening day, saving two match points before defeating Alexander Shevchenko in five sets.
After dropping the opening set, Prizmic won the next two and led 5-2 in the fourth set, but then lost 7 straight games.
Shevchenko went on to serve for the match at 5-4, but couldn’t convert two match points as Prizmic reeled off three consecutive games to steal the victory.
It was Prizmic’s first main-draw win at the US Open and sets up a second-round meeting with Tommy Paul.
Luca Van Assche def. Cameron Norrie 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
Cameron Norrie became one of the first seeded casualties of the tournament as Luca Van Assche came from a set down to win in four.
I had Norrie coming through reasonably comfortably, but after he edged a tight opening-set tiebreak, Van Assche took control immediately and was clearly the better player for the rest of the match.
The Frenchman dropped just seven games across the final three sets and recorded his first win over Norrie in four meetings. He will face Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
Jaume Munar def. Terence Atmane 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4), 7-5
Jaume Munar produced one of Day 1’s biggest comebacks after recovering from two sets down against Terence Atmane.
Atmane looked firmly in control after taking the first two sets, but he started with some sort of hand cramps, even serving left-handed, which allowed Munar to race through the third and then edge a crucial fourth-set tiebreak.
The deciding set was much tighter, as we’ve seen Atmane recover from cramps before, but Munar eventually broke through late to complete the comeback 7-5 and book his place in the second round.
Toby Samuel def. Tomas Machac 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
One of the more surprising scorelines of the day came from Toby Samuel, who swept aside Tomas Machac in straight sets.
Samuel never let Machac settle and dropped only seven games, winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Machac has only played twice since the French Open, losing both matches, but given his experience at tour level, I thought he’d come through.
Highlights
US Open 2026 Day 2 Round of 128 Matches
- Quentin Halys v Facundo Diaz Acosta — Court 13, 11:00 AM
- Grigor Dimitrov [Q] v Alexei Popyrin — Court 12, 11:00 AM
- Yannick Hanfmann v Alejandro Tabilo [25] — Court 6, 11:00 AM
- Luciano Darderi [21] v Harry Wendelken [Q] — Court 5, 11:00 AM
- Dalibor Svrcina [Q] v Valentin Royer — Court 15, 11:00 AM
- Felix Auger-Aliassime [3] v Rinky Hijikata — Grandstand, 11:00 AM
- Roman Andres Burruchaga v Karen Khachanov — Court 11, 11:00 AM
- Jakub Mensik [17] v Shintaro Mochizuki [LL] — Court 5, 11:00 AM
- Jurij Rodionov [Q] v Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard — Court 6, 11:00 AM
- Nuno Borges v Learner Tien [14] — Stadium 17, 11:00 AM
- Alexander Blockx [28] v Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera [Q] — Court 7, 11:00 AM
- Juncheng Shang v Marco Trungelliti — Court 13, 11:00 AM
- Brandon Nakashima [16] v Sebastian Baez — Stadium 17, 11:00 AM
- Otto Virtanen (LL) v Andrey Rublev [23] — Court 7, 11:00 AM
- Matteo Berrettini v Stan Wawrinka — Grandstand, 11:00 AM
- Ben Shelton [8] v Tallon Griekspoor — Arthur Ashe Stadium, 11:30 AM
- Damir Dzumhur v Hubert Hurkacz — Court 12, 11:00 AM
- Valentin Vacherot [22] v Aleksandar Kovacevic — Court 11, 11:00 AM
- Stefanos Tsitsipas v Arthur Fils [10] — Louis Armstrong Stadium, 11:00 AM
- Matteo Arnaldi [30] v James Duckworth — Court 10, 11:00 AM
- Roman Safiullin v Carlos Alcaraz [2] — Arthur Ashe Stadium, 11:30 AM
