US Open 2026 | Jodar Stunned by Lucky Loser Bu, Zverev Survives Five-Set Epic, Mérida Dumps Rublev & Shelton Battles Through
Rafael Jodar is OUT of the US Open after one of the biggest shocks of the tournament, demolished 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 by lucky loser Yunchaokete Bu.
Chris goes solo to unpack how a player who has spent the past four months pushing some of the best in the world could suddenly produce such a dramatic drop in level, and whether fatigue from Jodar’s relentless 2026 schedule finally caught up with him.
Elsewhere, Alexander Zverev survives an almost five-hour battle with Lorenzo Sonego after coming within two points of defeat, Daniel Mérida backs up the hype by knocking out Andrey Rublev, and Alex Michelsen sends the in-form Brandon Nakashima packing in straight sets.
Ben Shelton survives a gruelling four-set battle with Hubert Hurkacz, Alex de Minaur finally gets his US Open underway after the rain delays, and Gael Monfils celebrates his 40th birthday with one of the feel-good wins of the tournament.
On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka continues to look ominous, Maya Joint pushes Elina Svitolina to three sets, Rybakina and Andreeva cruise through, while Maria Sakkari produces a huge comeback after Robin Montgomery led 6-2, 4-0.
Plus, Draw Watch looks ahead to Mérida v Michelsen, Monfils v Tien, Zverev v Halys, Auger-Aliassime v Khachanov, Gauff v Badosa and more.
You gotta earn your serves.
Transcript
Washington finalist, Montreal semi finalist, French Open quarter finalist, up to number 13 in the world, and coming into New York as one of the most exciting young players in the sport.
Speaker A:And he's just been absolutely dismantled in the first round of the U.S. open by a lucky loser ranked outside the top hundred.
Speaker A:6261.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the Talking Tennis Podcast.
Speaker A:Chris here going solo again as we work our way through the US Open.
Speaker A:And there is plenty to get into today.
Speaker A:Hoda is obviously the headline after one of the biggest shocks we've seen so far.
Speaker A:We've also lost Brandon Nakashima, who came into New York playing some of the best tennis of his career.
Speaker A:Daniel Morita has also done exactly what I told you he might do and knocked out Rublev.
Speaker A:So naturally I be taking full credit for that.
Speaker A:Zverev somehow survived nearly five hours against Senego Shelton, and her catch gave us exactly the battle we were hoping for.
Speaker A:And on the women's side, the big names continue to largely take care of business, although Maya joined gave Svetlina absolutely everything she could handle.
Speaker A:Plus, we've got monfis celebrating his 40th birthday in probably the most Monfis way possible.
Speaker A:So plenty to get through.
Speaker A:Let's start with the big upset.
Speaker A:I genuinely don't know what to make of this one.
Speaker A:Rafael Hoda is out of the US Open in the first round and he hasn't just lost, he's been absolutely dismantled by Chinese lucky loser and Yukina Kate.
Speaker A:I absolutely butchered that.
Speaker A:Let's just call him boo.
Speaker A: He lost: Speaker A:And that is what makes this result so difficult for me to understand.
Speaker A:Because think about the level of tennis we've watched from Hoda over roughly the last four months.
Speaker A:This bloke has been absolutely flying.
Speaker A:He's gone toe to toe with some of the best players in the world.
Speaker A:He pushed top guys.
Speaker A:He won Marrakesh quarterfinals at Roland Garros final in Washington, semifinals in Montreal.
Speaker A:I don't need to say anything more about how well he's been going.
Speaker A:He's gone from being this exciting young player breaking onto the tour to looking like someone who genuinely belongs around at the top of men's tennis.
Speaker A:And then he turns up at the US Open and loses 211 to a lucky loser ranked outside the top hundred who had never previously won a Grand Slam match main draw.
Speaker A:That is an enormous gap in level.
Speaker A:It's not like Hoda played pretty well.
Speaker A:And Boo Just caught fire for a couple of hours.
Speaker A:Hoda was.
Speaker A:No way.
Speaker A:He didn't create a single break point opportunity for the entire match.
Speaker A:37 Unforced errors, only 15 winners.
Speaker A:He was getting broken repeatedly.
Speaker A:He never really established himself in any of the three sets.
Speaker A:The whole thing was over in an hour and 48 minutes.
Speaker A:And if I'm being completely fair to Boo, he deserves an enormous amount of credit.
Speaker A:He took advantage of everything that was in front of him.
Speaker A:He didn't get nervous.
Speaker A:He didn't allow Hodar back into the match.
Speaker A:And if somebody gives you that opportunity like that at a Grand Slam, you've just still got to go out in there and take it.
Speaker A:And Boo did exactly that.
Speaker A:But I'm not completely buying the idea that this was simply a case of Boo being too good.
Speaker A:I just don't.
Speaker A:Because I can't reconcile the Yoda we've watched for the last four months with the player we watched in this match.
Speaker A:If Hoda was playing at even 50 or maybe even 60% of the level we've seen from him recently, I would have fully expected him to make this match more competitive and probably win it.
Speaker A:Instead, there was nothing there.
Speaker A:And that brings me back to fatigue.
Speaker A:Now, Hodar was asked afterwards whether there was anything physically wrong with him.
Speaker A:He said no.
Speaker A:He repeatedly gave credit to Boo, basically said, the better player won, and that was it.
Speaker A:He shut it down.
Speaker A:And maybe that's exactly what happened.
Speaker A:But personally, I'm skeptical.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I don't buy it.
Speaker A:My theory is that the amount of tennis Hodar has played finally caught up with him, because this has been a ridiculous, ridiculous schedule for someone in his first full season on tour.
Speaker A:Yes, his first.
Speaker A:Many of you know that.
Speaker A:But it's worth repeating.
Speaker A:He's had deep run after deep run.
Speaker A:He had the clay season, then straight into the North American hardcore swing.
Speaker A:Washington final, Montreal semi final, match after match after match.
Speaker A:And yes, he's had some time in between events.
Speaker A:I'm not saying he's been playing seven days a week for four months.
Speaker A:But there's physical fatigue, and there's also mental fatigue.
Speaker A:You got travel, you have training, you have recovery, preparing for another opponent, constantly playing high pressure matches, and eventually the tank empties.
Speaker A:To me, this looked like a player whose tank was empty.
Speaker A:And I also wonder whether Hoda is ever really going to come out in a press conference and say, yeah, you know what?
Speaker A:I was completely gassed.
Speaker A:We've played too much tennis.
Speaker A:No one's going to come out and say that.
Speaker A:Because suddenly that creates a different conversation.
Speaker A:Then people start asking questions about his scheduling.
Speaker A:You know, what the journalists are like, his training, his team, his coach, his dad.
Speaker A:They're all going to be scrutinized.
Speaker A:Why was he playing this match?
Speaker A:Why wasn't the workload managed differently?
Speaker A:So sometimes it's much easier to say, he played better than me today.
Speaker A:Credit to him.
Speaker A:And then you just move on again.
Speaker A:That's my theory.
Speaker A:Hadar hasn't said that there's no reported injury we're pointing towards.
Speaker A:But just watching the level of tennis, I find it incredibly difficult to believe that this was simply Rafael Hodar we've been watching all year suddenly getting completely outplayed by Boo.
Speaker A:It was too big of a drop off, just too massive.
Speaker A:And maybe that's actually the lesson for Hoda from all of this.
Speaker A:We've already seen what his ceiling looks like.
Speaker A:It's tremendously high.
Speaker A:The next stage might be learning how to manage an entire professional season.
Speaker A:When to play, when to rest, when to push, and when to pull back.
Speaker A:Because being capable of producing elite tennis is one thing.
Speaker A:Being physically and mentally ready to produce it when the Grand Slam arrives is another.
Speaker A:And whatever the expectation is, this is a massive opportunity gone begging, especially when you look at what's happened around him.
Speaker A:Djokovic is gone, Rublev is gone, and Nakashima is gone.
Speaker A:The section of the draw is opening up everywhere.
Speaker A:Hoda should have been looking at this, thinking there was another deep Grand Slam run sitting there for him.
Speaker A:Instead, he's out.
Speaker A:And round one.
Speaker A:And for Boo.
Speaker A:Well, what a bloody good result.
Speaker A:Lucky loser.
Speaker A:Couple days ago, he wasn't even expecting to be playing.
Speaker A:7Th attempt at winning a Grand Slam match main draw.
Speaker A:And when the opportunity finally arrives, he doesn't scrape through in five.
Speaker A:He absolutely destroys the number 12 seed.
Speaker A:He'll play Michael Zhang next.
Speaker A:But for me, the bigger question coming out of this isn't whether Boo suddenly became an unbelievable tennis player overnight.
Speaker A:It's what happened to Rafael Hoda.
Speaker A:Because the player we saw today looked absolutely nothing like the player we've been watching for the last four months.
Speaker A:I'll leave it there.
Speaker A:I've said my piece, but you get the idea.
Speaker A:And Hodar wasn't the only player coming into New York with a heap of momentum who suddenly found himself heading home.
Speaker A:Brandon Nakashima is out as well.
Speaker A:The 16 seed beaten in straight sets by fellow American Alex Mikkelsen.
Speaker A:Six three, six four, six four.
Speaker A:And this one surprised me.
Speaker A:Been pretty bullish on Nakashima over the last four months or so he's been putting together arguably the best sustained run of his career.
Speaker A:Semifinals, final.
Speaker A:Another semifinal, a12.3 record across Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati, and I'd start looking at him as someone who could do a bit of damage here.
Speaker A:Instead, Mikkelsen just never really allowed him into the match.
Speaker A:Nakashima didn't create a break point in either the second or third set.
Speaker A:Mikkelsen converted four of his seven opportunities for the match and was just better in the important moments.
Speaker A:And maybe this is another case where the North American swing catches up with someone.
Speaker A:Twelve wins and three losses across three tournaments sounds fantastic, but that's also 15 matches before you've even arrived at the Grand Slam you're trying to peak for.
Speaker A:Sometimes good comes with a price, and this one has to sting for Nakashima because the draw was beginning to look pretty inviting.
Speaker A:Djokovic out, Rublev out.
Speaker A:Suddenly you're looking at that section thinking there's a real opportunity for someone to make a run.
Speaker A: earances at Wimbledon back in: Speaker A:I thought this might have been the tournament where he finally went beyond it.
Speaker A:Instead, Alex Mikkelsen is the American who moves on, and he's got another young player waiting for him next Daniel Morita.
Speaker A:And speaking of Morita, if you've listened to Monday's podcast, you'll remember I said I really like Daniel Morita's chances against Andre Rublev.
Speaker A:So it turns out listening to the Talking Tennis podcast can actually make you smarter and profitable.
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Speaker A:Morita, he gets it done.
Speaker A:Rublev takes the opening set, but from there the Spaniard basically controls the match two, four and four across the next three, and I don't think this should be treated as some completely random upset either.
Speaker A:Merida has been building towards results like this.
Speaker A:He's had a breakout season, made the final in Bucharest, won his first ATP title in Umarg, and now he's got the biggest win of his career at a Grand Slam.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, Rublev barely escaped round one after going two sets to lockdown.
Speaker A:And that's why I liked Merida's chances.
Speaker A:One guy came into the match playing with confidence.
Speaker A:The other guy came into it having survived.
Speaker A:Merida took advantage.
Speaker A:Now he gets Mikkelsen, and that's a fascinating opportunity for both of them because you've got two young players looking at a place in the round of 16.
Speaker A:No Rublev, no Nakashima, one of Morita or Mickelson is going to take advantage.
Speaker A:Another match we circled on the last episode was Ben Shelton against Hubie Herkach, and thankfully that one delivered.
Speaker A:Shelton gets through in 4, 6, 3, 5, 7, 7, 6, 7 5.
Speaker A:But he absolutely had to earn it.
Speaker A:The first set actually looked like it might be pretty straightforward.
Speaker A:Shel Martin gets the break after a Hurkash double fall and closes it out in just over half an hour.
Speaker A:But her catch wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker A:The second set had one of those ridiculous rallies where you've got smashes, you've got lobs.
Speaker A:Both players scrambling around everywhere, and her catch eventually gets the break.
Speaker A:Shelton saves two set points later in the set with a couple of really good volleys, but Hurkac finally gets him again and takes it.
Speaker A:7 5.
Speaker A:Then we get into a third set tiebreaker, and that's probably where the match shifts.
Speaker A:Shelton jumps out to a three love lead and never really gives that advantage back.
Speaker A:Two sets to one.
Speaker A:But even then, her catch just keeps hanging around.
Speaker A:The fourth gets uncomfortable.
Speaker A:Long rallies.
Speaker A:Her catch, covering an absurd amount of court for a bloke, is six foot five.
Speaker A:And at one stage, Shelton turns to his box and basically says, he has no problems with anything I'm giving him.
Speaker A:That's probably the best description of the match.
Speaker A:Charlton was throwing everything at him and her catch, he just wouldn't disappear.
Speaker A:Charlton then has to save two break points late in the fourth before finally serving it out.
Speaker A:6, 5.
Speaker A:That was a proper Grand Slam match, and I actually think Shelton will take plenty from it.
Speaker A:It's one thing to win when everything's working and you're blasting someone off the court.
Speaker A:It's another thing when you're three hours in.
Speaker A:The bloke across the net refuses to go away, and you have to keep finding sol.
Speaker A:Shelton earned his money today.
Speaker A:From an Australian point of view.
Speaker A:Alex Diemanault finally got onto court.
Speaker A:The poor bloke had to wait until day four just to play his opening match after all the rain, and thankfully he didn't waste much time once he got there.
Speaker A:Straight sets over Italian qualifier Andrea Guerreri.
Speaker A:Two, two and four under two hours as well.
Speaker A:Considering he's got to back it up again so quickly, that's probably the best possible result.
Speaker A:He gets van der Sloop at next and he'll obviously be hoping for another efficient day at the office.
Speaker A:James Duckworth unfortunately couldn't back up his really good opening round win over El Naldi.
Speaker A:Wuyibing beats him in straight sets.
Speaker A:So Duckworth is done and we've still got Tristan Schoolcake, Dane Sweeney and Alex Popran to come.
Speaker A:All three have seeded opponents, so it's not exactly an easy night for the Aussies.
Speaker A:If we can get one or even two of them into the next round, I think we'll take it.
Speaker A:Now let's jump back to Tuesday because the top seed nearly joined Djokovic at the exit door.
Speaker A:Alexander Zverev survives Lorenzo Sinegra in five sets.
Speaker A:Six, four, three, six, six, seven, seven, five, six four.
Speaker A:Nearly five hours of tennis finishing at 1:55 in the morning.
Speaker A:And at one point Zverev was basically two points from going home.
Speaker A:He'd already lost the third set tiebreaker after throwing in a costly double fault.
Speaker A:Then in the fourth, he's serving at 4, 5, 30, all just two points away from defeat and somehow he finds a way out.
Speaker A:That's probably the positive if Fjverev, because it certainly wasn't a clean performance.
Speaker A:The number that jumps out is the breakpoint conversion.
Speaker A:He had 22 opportunities and he only converted five.
Speaker A:That's a ridiculous amount of chances to create and not take.
Speaker A:More than half of them came in that fourth set alone.
Speaker A:So for long stretches, Zverev was getting himself into Senegal service games and then simply failing to finish the job.
Speaker A:We spoke about head to heads on Monday with fees and Tsitse pass.
Speaker A:And here's another reminder that they don't always mean what you think they mean.
Speaker A:Zverev came into this match six love against Senego.
Speaker A:He never lost to him and then came within a couple of points of losing at the US Open.
Speaker A:It's the second longest Grand Slam match of Zverev's career and that's hardly the ideal way for the top seed to start his tournament, especially after what's been a relatively lean season by his standards.
Speaker A:He gets Quinten Halius next.
Speaker A:Zverev will be desperately hoping that this one is considerably shorter because you don't want to be playing five hour matches obviously in round one if you're planning on being around deep into the second week.
Speaker A:One man who would have been very interested in seeing Zverev disappear is Lorenzo Mussetti.
Speaker A:Mussetti had a much easier opener.
Speaker A:Straight sets over Arthur Ferry.
Speaker A:3, 3 And 5.
Speaker A:And that's actually a handy win because Ferry came into New York having made the Wimbledon semifinals.
Speaker A:Musetti and Zverev are on course to meet in the quarterfinals.
Speaker A:And if they both get there, I think Musetti is a genuine problem.
Speaker A:His hardcore form has been solid.
Speaker A:He's really only been on the losing end to players who themselves are playing excellent tennis.
Speaker A:So that's one to keep in the back of your mind as this section develops.
Speaker A:Flavio Caboli had a much more dramatic afternoon.
Speaker A:Two sets to love down against Francisco Clemencina.
Speaker A:And for the first time in his career, Camboli comes all the way back to win from that position.
Speaker A:3 6, 2, 6 6, 3, 6, 4, 6 4.
Speaker A:He'd previously lost all eight Grand Slam matches where he dropped the opening two sets.
Speaker A:So that's a significant escape.
Speaker A:Kaboli has also been playing pretty well recently.
Speaker A:Semifinals at Cincinnati, wins over Tommy Paul and Hodar.
Speaker A:Eventually lost to Fees, who went on to win that tournament.
Speaker A:He now gets Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolgate.
Speaker A:Obviously, I'll be hoping the comeback took enough out of him that Scorecake can take advantage of.
Speaker A:And then we get to probably the feel good story of the tournament so far.
Speaker A:Gael Monfils turns 40 this year.
Speaker A:He's playing his final US Open.
Speaker A:He's a wildcard.
Speaker A:He's ranked 311 in the world.
Speaker A:He walks onto Louis Armstrong Stadium on his birthday, drops the opening set, six two.
Speaker A:And then basically decides, right, that's enough.
Speaker A:He loses three games for the rest of the match.
Speaker A:Six one, six two six.
Speaker A:Love, 37, winners jumping shots, crowd going mad.
Speaker A:Basically everything you want from a Monfils match.
Speaker A:And considering this is his final appearance in New York, it couldn't have been scripted much better.
Speaker A:The crowd sings Happy Birthday.
Speaker A:Afterwards, tournament director Eric Buterack turns up in the press room with a cake.
Speaker A:Just a genuinely nice moment for someone who's entertained tennis fans for two decades.
Speaker A:And there's a ridiculous historical coincidence here as well.
Speaker A: S Open since Jimmy Connors in: Speaker A:Connors was also 40, and that win also happened on his birthday.
Speaker A:Across the last four decades, those are the only two men to win a match here after turning 40.
Speaker A:Both did it on the actual day.
Speaker A:Tennis just comes up with some weird stuff sometimes.
Speaker A:Now, Monfiz gets learned at the end.
Speaker A:And this is where the story gets even better.
Speaker A:They've played in Montreal last month tien won in three sets, and afterwards the 20 year old asked Monfiz for an autograph.
Speaker A:Now they're playing each other at a Grand Islam.
Speaker A:One guy's 40 and playing in his final U.S. open, the other is literally half his age.
Speaker A:It's going to be a fun one.
Speaker A:Let's jump over to the women's side and I feel like I'm repeating myself from the last episode.
Speaker A:But compared with the men, it's been considerably more predictable.
Speaker A:The top players are just getting the job done, which maybe isn't the most exciting thing in round one and round two.
Speaker A:But if Sambalancas, Witek, Gough, Rybakina, Andreeva and all the rest of them keep progressing, we're setting ourselves up for some seriously good matches later in the tournament.
Speaker A:Sabalenka absolutely destroys Polina Iachenko again.
Speaker A:I probably butchered that one too.
Speaker A: Anyway, Sabalenka,: Speaker A:Thank you very much.
Speaker A:While some of the top men are spending four, even five hours trying to escape early rounds, Sabalanka has barely broken a sweat.
Speaker A:The more interesting part actually came after the match because she got a little prickly in the press conference when she was asked about the partying and fun events she's been involved with during the week leading into the tournament.
Speaker A:And Sabalenka clearly didn't appreciate the suggestion that maybe her focus hadn't been completely on tennis, which I kind of understand, because if you're going to question someone's preparation, it's probably worth waiting until they actually looked unprepared.
Speaker A:She just won the match.
Speaker A:6:1, 6:1 And 53 minutes.
Speaker A:So I think she's actually doing all right.
Speaker A:Anyway, the other woman's match of the day for me was Alina Svetlina against Maya.
Speaker A:Joint spoke about this match on the last pod and mentioned this was a huge opportunity for Meyer.
Speaker A:She almost walked away with the W, but it wasn't to be.
Speaker A:Svetlina gets through.
Speaker A:6 2, 6, 7, 64 And all for the first set.
Speaker A:This looked like it was going to be pretty straightforward.
Speaker A:Svalina was excellent.
Speaker A:Joint couldn't really get into it.
Speaker A:6 2.
Speaker A:Then Maya completely changes the match.
Speaker A:She starts hanging around the rallies, starts making Svetlina play extra balls, gets herself into the tie break, then saves match point and takes the set.
Speaker A:Suddenly Svetlina, who looked completely in control an hour earlier, is in a genuine fight and ultimately the experience probably tells.
Speaker A:In the third, Svetlina finds a way through, which she does a lot.
Speaker A:Her record in deciding sets over the last 52 weeks is ridiculous.
Speaker A:And the players who have beaten her in all of those situations are Pollini, Mokova, Kostyuk and Zvonc.
Speaker A:That's some pretty elite company.
Speaker A:So from an Australian point of view, I'm not walking away disappointed with mayor joint.
Speaker A:Obviously you wanted to win, but losing 64 in the third to Svetlina at a Grand Slam after saving match point and forcing a decider, I think there's a lot to like there.
Speaker A:She didn't drop her head after the first set.
Speaker A:She didn't panic when Svitlina got close to finishing it.
Speaker A:She actually played some of the best tennis when the pressure was highest.
Speaker A:If she can produce that level consistently, she's going to cause a lot of problems for people.
Speaker A:Let's jump back to Tuesday night where my girl Alina Rubakna looks like she might have put some of those ankle concerns behind her.
Speaker A:She gets through 17 year old American Thea Froden 3 and 2 and the scoreline looks pretty routine.
Speaker A:Although there was actually some good tennis from Freudian.
Speaker A:She hit 11 aces.
Speaker A:She won 80% behind her first serve.
Speaker A:The problem was she only landed 44% of those first serves.
Speaker A:That's not going to get it done against Rebakaner.
Speaker A:The other big difference was the errors.
Speaker A:Rbakana had 11, Frodo had 21.
Speaker A:That's basically the match right there for a Baccana.
Speaker A:The most important thing was getting through comfortably and showing no obvious signs that the ankle was going to be a major issue.
Speaker A:That's all I needed to see the rest of the women.
Speaker A:We had Andreeva.
Speaker A:She also cruised through two and two over Yanis Tien.
Speaker A:They played in Cincinnati only a couple of weeks ago and Tien gave her a considerably tougher match there.
Speaker A:Andreeva hits 18 winners, wins seven of eight points at the net and is safely through.
Speaker A:Madison Keys gets through as well.
Speaker A:5 And 4 over Corneva.
Speaker A:Not spectacular.
Speaker A:Didn't need to be, although Another contender safely into the next round.
Speaker A:Then we had probably the biggest collapse on the women's side in Robin Montgomery against Maria Sakkari.
Speaker A:Montgomery wins the opening set six two, then goes four love up in the second four Love two games away.
Speaker A:You're basically there at the finish line and then the whole thing falls apart.
Speaker A:Sakkari wins the second seven five, then takes the third six two.
Speaker A:Montgomery hits 24 unforced errors in the second set, another 15 in the third.
Speaker A:39 Unforced errors across the final two sets.
Speaker A:After putting herself up six two four love up.
Speaker A:That is brutal.
Speaker A:She's only 21 and was playing as a qualifier, so hopefully it's one of those experiences you learn from, but that's a match that's gonna hurt for a while.
Speaker A:Coco Gauff had considerably less drama.
Speaker A:She gets through Zeynep Sonmes 3 and 4 and Gough's serve continues to look seriously impressive, repeatedly getting up around 120 miles per hour and that's roughly 190 kilometers an hour for those of us who use the correct measurement system.
Speaker A:Sonmez actually gave her a reasonable test.
Speaker A:She created 10 break point opportunities.
Speaker A:The problem was she only converted one.
Speaker A:Against someone like golf, you're not going to get endless opportunities when they arrive, you've got to take them.
Speaker A:And finally, because apparently no WTA recap is complete without Alexandra Iyala at the moment, the new darling of women's tennis cruises through again 1 and 2 over 17 year old Mary Stoina packed Louis Armstrong crowd.
Speaker A:Iyala saves break points in the opening game and then immediately runs away to a five love lead.
Speaker A:Pretty much the same story in the second.
Speaker A:She'll play Alexandra Olenkyimova next, and there is actually a little bit of intrigue there because Alinkiova won their only previous meeting in Strasbourg earlier this year.
Speaker A:So Iyala gets an opportunity to reverse that one and continue what has already been another impressive run.
Speaker A:Before we wrap up, just a quick look at what's coming next.
Speaker A:I'm not going to go too deep into these because we've already touched on most of them throughout the episode.
Speaker A:On the men's side, Morita against Mikkelsen.
Speaker A:That's going to be an interesting one.
Speaker A:With Rublev and Nakashima both gone, one of those two young guns is going to find themselves in the round of 16.
Speaker A:Then you've got Monfils against Tien, 40 years old versus 20 years old.
Speaker A:We've already spoken about that.
Speaker A:In the storyline for Alex Diemenaur, the big thing is simply how he backs up up after having to wait until day four to play his opening match.
Speaker A:His schedule is now a little more compressed than everyone else's.
Speaker A:And then Zverev gets Quinton Hallis after spending nearly five hours on court against Senego.
Speaker A:That's not necessarily the bloke you want waiting for you next.
Speaker A:Halias can play, so I'm interested to see what Zverev has left in the tank.
Speaker A:Khatchanov gets Felix.
Speaker A:This is another one I've circled because you never know what you're going to get with Kachnov if he's going to turn up or not.
Speaker A:When he's on, he can take the racket out of your hands.
Speaker A:He hasn't been in the greatest form, but we'll see what he brings.
Speaker A:So that could be a potential danger match for Felix if he isn't on guard.
Speaker A:On the women's side, Taylor Townsend against Diana Schneider.
Speaker A:That should be a really good round three match.
Speaker A:Kohke Goff against Paula Badosa is another one.
Speaker A:Gough should go in as the clear favorite, obviously, but it's still a recognizable matchup just worth keeping an eye on.
Speaker A:And Alexandra Ayala gets a link him over with Iyala looking to reverse their previous meeting earlier this year.
Speaker A:So they're the ones I've got circled.
Speaker A:Nothing that needs a massive preview right now.
Speaker A:We'll see what actually happens, and if one of them gives us something ridiculous, there's no doubt I'll be talking about it on the next episode.
Speaker A:And that's where we'll leave it for today.
Speaker A:Four days into the US Open and the men's draw in particular is already starting to look very different.
Speaker A:No Djokovic, no fees, no Hodar.
Speaker A:Rublev and Nakashima are gone.
Speaker A:Zverev is still alive somehow, and suddenly there are opportunities opening up everywhere.
Speaker A:And on the women's side, it's almost the complete opposite.
Speaker A:The big names are still standing.
Speaker A:They're largely winning comfortably, and if that continues, we're going to see some seriously good matches once we get deeper into the tournament.
Speaker A:I'll be back again in a couple of days once we've got another batch of matches behind us.
Speaker A:If you're enjoying the US Open coverage, make sure you're following the Talking Tennis podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcast.
Speaker A:Drop us a rating while you're there and follow us on X for plenty more throughout the tournament.
Speaker A:Tournament thanks for listening, and remember, you got to earn your serifs.
