Zverev to open US Open 2026 against Sonego; projected route laid out
Alexander Zverev will begin his US Open 2026 campaign against Lorenzo Sonego at Arthur Ashe Stadium on September 1 (Tuesday), the first match of his bid as the top seed following Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal from the draw.
The German arrives in New York after winning his first major at Roland Garros and finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, but his transition to hard courts has been uneven: he lost in the opening round in Montreal to Tallon Griekspoor and exited in the fourth round in Cincinnati after squandering a match point before Tommy Paul completed a three-set turnaround. Despite that dip in form, his seeding is intact and both Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are placed on the opposite side of the draw.
Zverev opens against Sonego, against whom he holds a 6-0 career record, three of those victories coming on hard courts. Quentin Halys is the likeliest second-round opponent in that section; Halys’s flat, early-strike game can be troublesome when it clicks, but the assessment in the draw is that Zverev’s return and depth off both wings should be sufficient to advance.
Alejandro Tabilo is considered the most probable of the trio projected for the third round, with his left-handed ball-striking posing a particular match-up challenge. Grigor Dimitrov is listed as a possible opponent only if he progresses through qualifying, and the report notes Dimitrov’s fitness has often prevented a full fortnight in recent years.
The round-of-16 projection features Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the quarter-finals in New York last year and opens against Arthur Fery, while Luciano Darderi occupies the other seeded position in that portion of the draw. The two players have split their head-to-head at 2-2, and the preview points to Zverev’s historical edge over one-handed backhand players on hard courts.
From the quarter-final section, Alex de Minaur is identified as the clear favourite to emerge despite recent dropped matches; he defeated Zverev in their most recent meeting at the 2025 Laver Cup, though their overall head-to-head sits at 8-3 in Zverev’s favour. The 19-year-old Rafael Jodar, who recently reached the French Open quarter-finals, is noted as an alternative threat if de Minaur slips.
The preview places Felix Auger-Aliassime as the third seed in the same half, while singling out Taylor Fritz after his Washington title and Cincinnati quarter-final run; Fritz is a former US Open finalist and has met Zverev 16 times, leading their head-to-head 10-6 despite losing their latest encounter. Flavio Cobolli is mentioned as another potential challenger; Novak Djokovic’s opening-round loss to Mariano Navone is said to have opened up the bottom half, with Carlos Alcaraz still viewed as a dangerous opponent given he leads their rivalry 7-6 and beat Zverev in a five-set Australian Open semi-final earlier this year. Ben Shelton is recorded as having lost all five meetings to Zverev, including a straight-sets defeat in Cincinnati last year, while Daniil Medvedev is described as arriving without much momentum after a strange season.
Projected route listed in the preview is: Round 1 – Lorenzo Sonego; Round 2 – Quentin Halys; Round 3 – Alejandro Tabilo; Round of 16 – Lorenzo Musetti; Quarter-final – Alex de Minaur. Zverev is identified in the piece as World No. 2 in the latest ATP rankings and is the tournament’s top seed in the absence of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
