Alexander Bublik (16) has ended his singles campaign at the US Open 2026. In the third round, the Kazakhstani tennis player lost to American Tommy Paul (21) in five sets – 4:6, 6:3, 7:6 (7:4), 1:6, 3:6. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The match at Louis Armstrong Stadium lasted 3 hours and 13 minutes. After three sets, Bublik led 2-1 in sets but could not hold the advantage.

Bublik lost the first set 4-6, then leveled the match at 6-3. The third set was the most competitive. The players went to a tiebreak, where Bublik prevailed 7-4 and took the lead in sets.

After that, the momentum shifted to Paul. In the fourth set, the American gave his opponent only one game – 6-1. In the decisive set, Paul again broke Bublik's serve and closed out the match – 6-3.

The Kazakhstani hit 16 aces against 10 for his opponent but committed six double faults, while Paul had only one. Bublik won 72% of points on his first serve and 50% on his second. The American's figures were 76% and 60%, respectively.

A key difference was the conversion of break points. Bublik converted only two of seven chances to break his opponent's serve – 29%. Paul converted six of eight break points – 75%.

The American also slightly outplayed the Kazakhstani in winners – 44 to 41 – and made significantly fewer errors. Bublik had 49 unforced errors, Paul had 35. The total points ratio was 153-131 in favor of the American.

The match was a sort of revenge for last year's US Open. In 2025, Bublik and Paul also met in the third round and played five sets, but then the Kazakhstani won – 7:6 (7:5), 6:7 (4:7), 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 6:1.

In the women's singles, Elena Rybakina continues her quest for the title. In the second round, our tennis player defeated Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

Anna Danilina, paired with Aleksandra Krunic, started the tournament successfully, beating Alexa Guarachi (773) of Chile and Egyptian Mayar Sherif in the first round.

Yulia Putintseva ended her run after a second-round loss to China's Zheng Qinwen. Alexander Shevchenko lost to Croatian Dino Prižmić at the start of the tournament.

The US Open is an annual Grand Slam tennis tournament on hard courts. It is the last of the four majors in the calendar year.

For the second consecutive year, the US Open, first held in August 1881, starts a week earlier due to the rescheduled mixed doubles event. The total prize money of $108 million is a record for majors.

Since 1978, matches have been held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

The reigning men's champion is Spain's Carlos Alcaraz (3), who defeated Jannik Sinner in last year's final 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Incidentally, the Italian, the world number one, withdrew from the US Open 2026 due to a knee injury.

In women's tennis, the 2025 winner was Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. In the final, she defeated Amanda Anisimova of the USA – 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).