Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka have opened their US Open title defences with straight-set victories, whereas Novak Djokovic’s exceptional first-round defeat has already modified the form of the event at Flushing Meadows.
Alcaraz marked his return from a protracted damage lay-off by beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday. Sabalenka earlier defeated Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-4 as she started her try to win a 3rd successive ladies’s singles title.
Their victories introduced some stability after a dramatic opening day. Djokovic, a four-time US Open champion, misplaced 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to Argentina’s Mariano Navone after 4 hours and 36 minutes. It was his first opening-round defeat on the event.
The result’s notably important as a result of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner had already withdrawn with a knee damage.
World in Sport’s US Open 2026 preview highlighted how Sinner’s absence had made the lads’s championship tough to foretell. Djokovic’s departure has opened that aspect of the draw additional.
| Participant | Opponent | First-round end result |
|---|---|---|
| Carlos Alcaraz | Roman Safiullin | Gained 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Aryna Sabalenka | Camila Osorio | Gained 6-2, 6-4 |
| Mariano Navone | Novak Djokovic | Gained 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 |
| Sofia Kenin | Venus Williams | Gained 6-2, 7-6(6) |
| Matteo Berrettini | Stan Wawrinka | Gained 7-6(4), 7-6(3), 6-0 |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | Arthur Fils | Gained 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4 |
Alcaraz makes convincing return from damage
Alcaraz arrived in New York with one main query hanging over his title defence: how would his proper wrist reply to aggressive tennis?
The Spaniard had not performed a singles match for 139 days after the damage compelled him to overlook each the French Open and Wimbledon.
His restoration was one of many main tales earlier than the event, with World in Sport’s US Open damage replace monitoring his return and Sinner’s withdrawal.
There was little proof of bodily discomfort in opposition to Safiullin.
Alcaraz took all three units 6-4 and step by step regarded extra comfy inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. His motion remained sharp, and his forehand offered a lot of the attacking risk that has grow to be central to his sport.
The defending champion will face Portugal’s Jaime Faria within the second spherical.
Getting by way of the opening match effectively issues after such a protracted absence. Alcaraz has entered a Grand Slam with out the standard run of aggressive matches behind him, so each spherical will present one other check of how his physique responds.
The broader draw has additionally moved in his favour.
Sinner is absent, and Djokovic is out. Nevertheless, there stays a protracted method to go earlier than that may translate into one other title. No man has efficiently defended the US Open singles championship since Roger Federer accomplished 5 consecutive victories between 2004 and 2008.
Sabalenka begins three-peat bid with straight-sets win
Sabalenka additionally averted an early complication.
The world No. 1 beat Osorio 6-2, 6-4 to start her try to win a 3rd consecutive title in New York. The Belarusian established management within the opening set and recovered from extra resistance within the second to complete the match in two units.
Sabalenka received the US Open in 2024 and efficiently defended the title in 2025. One other championship would make her the primary participant to win three consecutive singles titles at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams achieved the feat from 2012 to 2014.
Her subsequent opponent can be Polina Iatcenko.
Sabalenka entered the event after a much less convincing summer time than her earlier two seasons in New York. She reached the fourth spherical at each Wimbledon and Cincinnati, however her opening efficiency on the US Open supplied few indicators of uncertainty.
There’s additionally a battle for the world No. 1 rating growing alongside the title race. Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff all entered the event with a mathematical alternative to interchange Sabalenka on the prime.
World in Sport will proceed to comply with these developments by way of its tennis information and event protection.
Djokovic’s defeat transforms the lads’s draw
Nothing from the primary two days has matched the importance of Djokovic’s exit.
The 39-year-old had by no means beforehand misplaced within the first spherical of the US Open. He entered this 12 months’s event with a 19-0 report in opening-round matches at Flushing Meadows.
Navone ended that sequence in a gruelling five-set contest.
Djokovic recovered after dropping the opening tie-break and moved forward by taking the second and third units. Navone responded emphatically, successful the fourth 6-2 earlier than taking the deciding set 6-1.
Bodily issues turned more and more obvious for Djokovic. He struggled with a number of points throughout the match, together with illness, cramping and discomfort affecting his again and shoulder. Navone nonetheless needed to full the job, and the Argentine held his nerve to safe the most important victory of his profession.
It was Djokovic’s earliest defeat at a Grand Slam since he misplaced his opening match on the 2006 Australian Open.
That makes this end result greater than an remoted upset.
Djokovic stays a 24-time Grand Slam champion, however bodily issues have more and more sophisticated his pursuit of a report twenty fifth main.
World in Sport had already examined the questions surrounding him following his early Cincinnati Open defeat.
The US Open has now offered one other tough end result.
Navone’s reward is a second-round assembly with Matteo Berrettini, who ended Stan Wawrinka’s ultimate Grand Slam look on Monday.
Venus Williams exits after report late begin
Venus Williams additionally left the singles event after one of many newest matches in US Open historical past.
Sofia Kenin defeated the 46-year-old 6-2, 7-6 (6) in an all-American first-round contest that didn’t start till 12.13 am in New York.
That was the most recent begin to a match in event historical past.
Kenin initially appeared set for a cushty victory. Williams then recovered from 4-2 down within the second set and created a number of alternatives to pressure a decider. Kenin saved seven set factors earlier than successful the closing six factors of the match.
The match completed at 2.01 am, making it the most recent end for a first-round match on the US Open.
It was Williams’ twenty sixth US Open singles look.
The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion has not indicated that the defeat represents the tip of her profession. Her event is just not over both, with Williams on account of play doubles alongside sister Serena later within the occasion.
Kenin will face Jessica Pegula within the second spherical.
Wawrinka’s ultimate Grand Slam ends in opposition to Berrettini
One other former champion stated goodbye to Grand Slam singles tennis on Monday.
Wawrinka, who received the US Open in 2016, misplaced 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-0 to Berrettini.
The 41-year-old obtained a late wildcard for what he had already confirmed can be his ultimate Grand Slam event earlier than retiring on the finish of the season. He stored the primary two units tight, however Berrettini managed the third to finish the straight-sets victory.
Berrettini now meets Navone, inserting Djokovic’s conqueror immediately within the Italian’s path.
Elsewhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas produced one other notable first-round end result by defeating tenth seed Arthur Fils.
Tsitsipas misplaced the opening set however recovered to win 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-4. The previous world No. 3 is unseeded in New York and entered the event after a tough interval by which accidents and modifications to his teaching crew affected his kind.
Amanda Anisimova, Karolina Muchova and Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova had been additionally amongst Monday’s confirmed winners.
The early departures of Djokovic, Wawrinka, Williams and Fils have created an uncommon opening to the ultimate Grand Slam of the season. Alcaraz and Sabalenka, in contrast, have achieved precisely what defending champions must do within the first spherical: progress with out permitting their opening matches to grow to be unnecessarily sophisticated.
For Alcaraz particularly, the subsequent check can be whether or not his wrist continues to reply because the matches grow to be longer and the opposition turns into stronger. For Sabalenka, the problem is totally different. She has arrived because the participant everyone seems to be making an attempt to cease.
The stakes will proceed to rise with every spherical. The boys’s and ladies’s singles champions will every obtain roughly £4.04 million ($5.5 million), a part of the event’s report £79.3 million ($108 million) prize fund detailed in World in Sport’s 2026 US Open prize-money breakdown.
For now, each defending champions stay in competition. Djokovic doesn’t, and that’s the improvement that has modified the complexion of the lads’s championship earlier than the primary spherical has even completed.
