New York - 09/03

Good morning and welcome back to TIE-Breakfast: all the tennis you need over breakfast.

Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000 and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.

Today is Thursday 3 September, in New York it is 02:30 and it is 20 degrees. Right, off we go.

On the breakfast table

• 🇮🇹 Berrettini stops in the second round, Navone beats him in four sets
• 🇮🇹 Guerrieri and Passaro go out too, Paolini wins the derby against Stefanini
• 🇪🇸 Mérida knocks out Rublev, Nakashima and Jódar also out
• 🇪🇸 Alcaraz loses the first set to Faria and then closes it out in four
• 🇧🇾 Sabalenka opens the night session dropping two games to Iatcenko
• 🇮🇹 Today Musetti, Cobolli and Bellucci, with Bellucci meeting Fritz on the Ashe

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇮🇹 Berrettini Stops Against Navone

Mariano Navone beat Matteo Berrettini 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the second round. The first set went to the Italian with eleven winners to none, then the match turned and never came back.

Navone is the same player who in the first round sent Djokovic out after four hours and thirty-six minutes, so he arrived certain he could handle any length. Berrettini stopped finding the court with his forehand around the middle of the second set and from there played almost entirely in reaction. He lost the fourth-set tie-break 7-4 after putting the match back in the balance, and that is the detail that will stay. The match was still there, and it was not enough.

🇮🇹 Guerrieri And Passaro Out, Paolini Wins The Derby

Alex de Minaur saw off Andrea Guerrieri 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round pushed back a day by the rain, while Jesper de Jong turned around Francesco Passaro 2-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on the resumption from 1-1 in the fourth set. Jasmine Paolini got past Lucrezia Stefanini 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and sixteen minutes and in the third round meets Sorana Cirstea, the sixteenth seed, who beat Diane Parry 6-2, 7-5.

Restarting from 1-1 in the fourth with a day in between wiped out the advantage of whoever felt better the night before, and de Jong won the last two sets conceding five games. Guerrieri paid for a Slam debut against the most awkward possible opponent for a newcomer, one who does not hand over a single free point across three sets. Paolini did what was needed in a derby neither of them wanted to play, closing the second set comfortably after a tighter first.

🇪🇸 Mérida Knocks Out Rublev

Daniel Mérida beat Andrey Rublev 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and forty-eight minutes, the first Slam third round of his career. On the same day Alex Michelsen eliminated Brandon Nakashima, the sixteenth seed, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and lucky loser Yunchaokete Bu left four games to Rafael Jódar, the twelfth seed, winning 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.

Rublev won the first set in a tie-break and then conceded three in a row without ever regaining control of the rallies. Michelsen, who beat Cinà in the first round, is into the third round in New York for the first time and will face Mérida himself, which guarantees one of the two the best Slam result of his career. Three seeds in a single day is the kind of tally this tournament keeps repeating with a regularity nobody had in the forecasts ten days ago.

WHAT HAPPENED OVERNIGHT:

🇪🇸 Alcaraz Loses The First Set And Then Runs Away

Carlos Alcaraz beat Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and forty minutes on the Arthur Ashe, closing the night session. The Portuguese, ranked 72 in the world, won the first set, then stopped finding his first serve and did not win a game in the second set.

"Tough match for me, I had a break point and wasted it, then I rushed and it cost me the break," the Spaniard said afterwards. On the right wrist, the one that kept him out for 139 days, there was no signal at any point in those two hours and forty minutes, which is the most useful information of the evening. In the third round he meets Wu Yibing, and for now the defending champion is crossing the draw without anyone asking him to defend for five sets.

🇧🇾 Sabalenka Drops Two Games To Iatcenko

Aryna Sabalenka opened the night session beating Polina Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1. The Russian had reached the second round by getting past Renata Zarazúa in a deciding third-set tie-break, after losing the first.

The world number one is managing her title defence in the most economical way possible, and so far she has not dropped a set. Against an opponent who had spent almost everything to get through her first round, the difference showed immediately. What remains to be seen is what happens when someone on the other side holds the pace for a whole set, which in New York, sooner or later, always arrives.

WHAT HAPPENS TODAY:

• Cobolli vs Schoolkate - Grandstand, third match from 17:00 Italian time. The Australian came through qualifying and Cobolli arrives from the four hours and thirteen minutes of his first round, so management counts as much as tennis.
• Musetti vs Sweeny - Stadium 17, second match from 17:00. Sweeny knocked out Moutet in the first round by retirement, and the thirteenth seed has yet to drop a set in this tournament.
• Bellucci vs Fritz - Ashe, second match from 17:30 Italian time. A first time on the main court for Bellucci, against the ninth seed and the heaviest serve in that half of the draw.
• Swiatek vs Podoroska - Grandstand, first match from 17:00. The Argentinian is the kind of opponent who stretches the rallies until she finds a gap, and Swiatek already showed signs of solidity on her debut.
• Gauff vs Badosa and Zverev vs Halys - Ashe, night session from 01:00 Italian time. Badosa against Gauff is the most open match of the women's day, and Zverev is back out after the almost five hours with Sonego.
• Monfils vs Tien and Rybakina vs Bouzas Maneiro - Armstrong from 01:00. Monfils plays the second round of his last US Open against an opponent twenty years younger than him.

Further reading

• Us Open, Paolini batte Stefanini, Berrettini si arrende al tie
• Guerrieri saluta New York, Passaro crolla al quinto set con De Jong
• US Open: clamoroso Jodar, fuori con Bu, bene Medvedev e Shelton
• US Open - Ok Shelton e Medvedev. Out Guerrieri, Nakashima e Rublev
• Alcaraz overpowers Faria to reach US Open third round
• US Open 2026: Order of Play and match schedule

Enjoy your breakfast and have a good day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast