The first round of the 2025 US Open wraps up on this Day 3 of main draw play, with five former Flushing champs headlining the day’s play. Men’s defending champ Jannik Sinner, 2022 women’s winner Iga Swiatek, 2023 titlist Coco Gauff, 2014 champion Marin Cilic and two-time first-place finisher Naomi Osaka (2018, 2020) all have court time booked today. They’re sharing space on today’s marquee with men’s third seed Alexander Zverev, No. 8 Alex de Minaur, Flushing fan favorites Gael Monfils and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and an American contingent headlined by Tommy Paul, Amanda Anisimova, and Sofia Kenin.
For those who’ve been there, and those looking to get there, today’s goal is the same: win, and play another day.
Men’s top seed and world No. 1 Sinner has now seriously cemented himself in a league almost his own. He’s one half of the men’s game’s Big Two, pairing with Carlos Alcaraz to lay claim to this sport’s greatest stages. The 24-year-old Italian comes to Flushing with a staggering 20-1 record at the Slams so far this season, that one loss coming to—you guessed it—Alcaraz, in June’s Roland Garros final. Winner of both the Aussie Open and Wimbledon, Sinner is competing here to become the first man to take three major titles in a season since Novak Djokovic went three-for-four in 2023. A win here also would make the Italian the first man to successfully defend his US Open crown since Roger Federer finished first in Flushing five consecutive times from 2004-2008.
The men’s No. 1 will open his title defense against Vit Kopriva, a 28-year-old Czech who’s making his first-career appearance in the Open’s main draw. Ranked a career-high No. 89, Kopriva’s best 2025 showings have been runs to the quarters at Marrakech and the third round in Rome, both on clay. In four Slam appearances, he’s reached the second round just once—that coming at this year’s French Open. Kopriva does own six singles titles on the Challenger Tour, but is still awaiting a big breakthrough in the big leagues.
That’s not likely to happen today, against a top talent like the top seed. Sinner is playing at an ethereal level, and at the Slams, he only raises that level of play. Not many others are capable of performing at that altitude.
The two men have never met, and this first matchup doesn’t figure to be a lengthy one. In a thrifty three, Sinner is on to round two.
Gauff, champion here in 2023, earned herself another piece of impressive hardware this summer, capturing her second Grand Slam singles crown with a seriously spectacular win at Roland Garros. In the final there against women’s No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the 21-year-old American rallied back after losing the first set to score a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 win. It was Gauff at her brilliant best, but after that win, she has had a so-so-summer by her standards, shockingly losing in the first round at Wimbledon and reaching just the fourth round in Montreal and the quarters at Cincinnati. Apart from her triumph in Paris, she is without a title in 2025, reaching finals in both Rome and Madrid but coming up short each time.
But just before the start of this year’s Open, Gauff enlisted a new coach and comes in with a refreshed approach and relaxed attitude, determined to make her way to this event’s second Saturday. Her career 17-5 record on the hard floors of Flushing is her second-best mark at the majors, and having already won here, she’s well aware of what it takes to string together seven matches in the furious frenzy of Flushing.
She’ll look to win her first tonight against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic, whose run to the quarterfinals here in 2022 is her best-ever finish in Flushing. Highlighting that run, the Aussie notched her most impressive career win, taking down 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams in her final US Open appearance. The 32-year-old veteran talent has reached two semifinals this year—at the Austin, Texas, hard-court event in February, and on the clay in Rabat, Morocco in May—but this summer, she’s won just two matches in three hard-court events.
The two women have met just once, but that one clash was also on a rather large stage, with the American taking down the Aussie in straight sets in the first round of the 2024 Paris Olympics. It’s hard to imagine that this second encounter won’t produce similar results. In two, the former champ forges ahead.
