Thursday does not open the third round. It finishes the second. After the rain the draw slipped, and 3 September on Arthur Ashe is a full day again. From 11:30 in New York, 18:30 Moscow: Naomi Osaka vs Kateřina Siniaková, then Taylor Fritz vs Mattia Bellucci. Night session not before 7pm local: Coco Gauff vs Paula Badosa, Alexander Zverev vs Quentin Halys. He is the men’s No. 1 after Sinner withdrew with a knee. If Zverev beats the Frenchman, the third round comes without an asterisk that he has not yet played a roofed second-round night.
Who else is on Thursday
Louis Armstrong from 11am: Félix Auger-Aliassime vs Karen Khachanov, Alexandra Eala vs Oleksandra Oliynykova. At night, Learner Tien vs Gaël Monfils and Elena Rybakina vs Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. On Grandstand, Iga Swiatek — eighth after the Canadian Open — plays Nadia Podoroska. Anisimova and Cobolli are on the same block. Swiatek is no longer an automatic on hard courts this year, but Podoroska is a match that should not become a story off the poster. If it does, Thursday gets rewritten.
Osaka’s first round was two tie-breaks against Zakharova. Gauff removed Zeynep Sönmez 6-3, 6-4. Rybakina is still racing a leg to the draw: that was a separate file on draw day. Zverev won Roland Garros; in New York he is No. 1 with no right to ease in — Halys can hold serve and ruin a favourite’s stat line.
Why this day matters to the grid
Friday is already the third round. Anyone who does not close the second on Thursday walks into Friday with a double load, or does not walk in at all. Alcaraz and Sabalenka did their work on Wednesday. Thursday is the ledger for Zverev, Gauff, Osaka, Swiatek and Rybakina. If all five go through, the women’s draw looks like a real title fight by the weekend, and the men’s like a question of which of the top three reaches week two without a five-set fire. For now New York is just trying to play to the schedule. For the 2026 US Open, that already counts as an achievement.
