Twenty-three-year-old American Brandon Nakashima is having a moment. In Montreal, the former University of Virginia standout defeated home favorite Denis Shapovalov and compatriot Tommy Paul en route to a quarterfinal showing at the event. A week later in Cincinnati, he took out No. 1 American Taylor Fritz and then world No. 24 Arthur Fils on his way to the Round of 16.
In Round 1 at the US Open, Nakashima continued his summer of upsets, sailing past No. 15 seed and two-time French Open quarterfinalist Holger Rune in just under two hours, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. By seeding, it’s the biggest upset of the men’s draw so far.
Serving 11 aces and winning 84% of his first-serve points, the American never let his higher-ranked opponent into the match, saving all six of the break points he faced. The Danish player, incidentally, is now 0-3 against the Californian.
Nakashima was just one of 17 Americans in action on Day 1. Here’s a look at some of the other notable results around the grounds.
American teenager Iva Jovic defeats No. 42 Magda Linette
Sixteen-year-old Iva Jovic—the No. 5 junior in the world—earned a wild card into the main draw of the US Open after capturing the title at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ National Championships earlier in August. She took full advantage of the opportunity, convincingly defeating 2022 Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Jovic is the third girls’ champion to win a round at the US Open in the last 10 years, after Kayla Day in 2016 and CiCi Bellis in 2014. (Bellis was just 15 years old when she upset No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova that year.) Despite her age, Jovic is no stranger to big wins under the lights at Flushing Meadows. In 2022, as a 14-year-old, she erased a 0-5 deficit in the third set of her first-round junior girls’ singles match to advance.
Jovic is also the youngest American woman to win a round at the US Open in four years, since Katrina Scott (also 16) in 2020.
Taylor Townsend sees your potential third set, raises you a straight-sets victory.
Taylor Townsend can get broken, but you will not break her. The world No. 48—who reached the third round at Flushing Meadows in 2023—won the first set of her contest against fellow lefty Martina Trevisan handily 6-2, but she found herself down early in the second.
As her opponent dialed up the aggression, the American had to fight off four break points serving at 2-4 in a long 16-point game just to avoid a double break; she then saved a set point serving at 3-5.
The tenacity paid off. Trevisan hit three unforced errors in a row as she tried to serve it out and promptly lost her lead. Shortly thereafter, Townsend was motioning to the highly partisan crowd to cheer her on as she earned two match points on Trevisan’s very next service game. She converted on the second—coming out on top after a grueling 22-shot rally.
The hard-fought victory is the cherry on top of an incredibly sweet run-of-form for the 28-year-old. Townsend is currently sitting at a career-high ranking in singles, and this past July, she captured the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon (with Katerina Siniakova).
Peyton Stearns continues to impress at Flushing Meadows.
Last year, Peyton Stearns reached the Round of 16 at the US Open, where she pushed the then-reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova to three sets. Stearns—who captured her first WTA title earlier in the spring in Rabat—returned to New York and seemed to pick up right where she left off, easing past WTA veteran Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5. She’ll next face No. 12 seed Daria Kasatkina, whom she beat in the second round of the French Open in May.
Other Americans achieve mixed success.
At 30 years old, world No. 179 Mitchell Krueger—who came through qualifying—reached the second round of the US Open for the second time in his career, overcoming fellow qualifier Hugo Grenier in four sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. That result was not to be for wild card and 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Christopher Eubanks, who lost to Arthur Rinderknech in a fifth-set tiebreak after leading by two sets, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(8).
And just days before the tournament began, former University of Florida tennis player McCartney Kessler captured her first title on the WTA Tour in Cleveland, defeating world No. 23 Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final. On Day 1, she couldn’t keep the momentum going, falling to No. 18 seed Marta Kostyuk in straight sets. Tennis can be a brutal sport.
