Day 7 delivered a couple of big-ish casualties, with Taylor Fritz and Flavio Cobolli both heading out before the second week.
Fritz’s exit was comfortably the more painful of the two. He led Francisco Cerundolo by two sets and a break, had three break points at 3-4 in the fifth, and still somehow lost.
Given how dominant he looked against Bellucci, that’s a pretty brutal way for my American title pick to disappear, and it’s hard to picture many better chances cropping up with no Sinner and Djokovic long gone.
Cobolli also went out after Alexander Blockx took over completely from midway through the second set, while Learner Tien continued his excellent run by edging Jakub Mensik in five.
Once the sun had set, Alexander Zverev finally managed to play a Grand Slam match without turning it into a five-hour expedition, beating Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets and conserving some much-needed energy.
Here’s a look at all the Day 7 results and the matches that stood out.
Day Seven US Open 2026 Round of 32 Results
Key Match Recap
Francisco Cerundolo def. Taylor Fritz 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
The biggest result of Day 7 was Francisco Cerundolo coming from two sets down to knock Taylor Fritz out of the tournament.
Fritz looked in complete control for the first couple of sets and then went on a break in the third, so I thought this was heading towards another routine win after he dropped just two games against Bellucci.
Instead, Cerundolo broke straight back and gradually started finding the level that had been missing from his first two and a half sets. His forehand became much more dangerous, while Fritz’s ball-striking and serve both started to deteriorate.
The big moment came at 3-4 in the fifth. Fritz had 0-40 and three chances to put himself in position to serve for the match, but Cerundolo saved all three, held, and then immediately broke.
A pretty horrible loss for Fritz given the position he was in, particularly after looking so good two days earlier. He hadn’t exactly played well to get himself up two sets, but playing someone who’s had such an inauspicious season as Cerundolo, then I’m not sure how you don’t manage to close that one out, and there goes my American pick for the title.
Alexander Blockx def. Flavio Cobolli 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3
Flavio Cobolli finally won the opening set of a match at this US Open but then decided his job was done.
After edging a tight first-set tiebreak, he was completely blown away by Alexander Blockx, who produced some decent stuff from there.
From 2-3 in the second set, Blockx won 11 consecutive games, taking the second 6-3, bagelling Cobolli in the third and breaking immediately at the start of the fourth.
Cobolli did briefly threaten another comeback, but Blockx stayed composed and closed it out with four first serves in a love hold.
The Belgian finished with 17 aces and won 86% of his first-serve points.
Learner Tien def. Jakub Mensik 6-3, 1-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4
Learner Tien came through an excellent late-night battle with Jakub Mensik to reach the fourth round for the first time in New York.
This one had five setter written all over it, as it’s an interesting matchup between two completely different players.
Mensik has the bigger serve and more obvious power, while Tien is rock steady, extends the rallies and forces the Czech to keep hitting another ball.
After splitting the first two sets, Mensik took a fairly comfortable third-set tiebreak and looked to have the match under control.
But the Czech still has some lulls/walkabouts in his game as Tien refused to go away, recovering from an early break in the fourth, fed off the Armstrong crowd and eventually forced a decider before edging the fifth 6-4.
Alexander Zverev def. Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-2
It took most of the first week but Alexander Zverev discovered that US Open matches don’t actually have to last five sets.
After spending almost 10 hours on court in his first two rounds, the top seed dispatched Alejandro Tabilo in just two hours and 26 minutes.
There was one slightly messy spell in the second. Zverev led 4-2, became passive and eventually had to save two set points at 4-5 before getting through the tiebreak 7-2. Happens a bit too often and is one of the reasons he’s had to play those two five-setters.
Outside of that, this was comfortably his best performance of the tournament. He hit 44 winners, controlled the baseline much better and finally managed to conserve some energy.
Luciano Darderi is next, and that’s an interesting one given the Italian beat him in Rome earlier this year after saving four match points.
Highlights
US Open 2026 Day 8 Round of 16 Matches
- Daniil Medvedev [7] v Frances Tiafoe [11] — Louis Armstrong Stadium, not before 3:00 PM
- Alex Michelsen v Tomas Martin Etcheverry [27] — Grandstand, not before 2:30 PM
- Ben Shelton [8] v Stefanos Tsitsipas — Arthur Ashe Stadium, 7:00 PM
- Tommy Paul [20] v Carlos Alcaraz [2] — Arthur Ashe Stadium, not before 2:00 PM
