Biggest Upsets of the 2026 US Open: Live Tracker

The 2026 US Open is over, and the biggest upsets of the tournament split the draw in two. Thirty of the 32 men’s seeds fell, including Novak Djokovic in round one and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a quarterfinal that finished at 3.33am. Then the very top seed, Alexander Zverev, won the title anyway. The women’s draw barely blinked all fortnight, and Elena Rybakina beat Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Every upset from the two weeks is logged below with the score and the round.

Final update: Monday, September 14. The tournament is complete. This page now stands as the record of the 2026 fortnight.

Biggest Upsets of the 2026 US Open

Upset · Men's Singles · Round of 128

Yunchaokete BuWorld No. 114def.Rafael JodarWorld No. 14

Final

Rafael Jodar211

Yunchaokete Bu666◀

Round of 128

Upset · Men's Singles · Round of 64

Dane SweenyWorld No. 109def.Lorenzo MusettiWorld No. 20

Final

Dane Sweeny3666◀

Lorenzo Musetti6122

Round of 64

Upset · Women's Singles · Round of 32

Taylor TownsendWorld No. 98def.Diana ShnaiderWorld No. 13

Final

Taylor Townsend66³6◀

Diana Shnaider27⁷3

Round of 32

Upset · Women's Singles · Round of 128

Taylor TownsendWorld No. 98def.Maja ChwalinskaWorld No. 26

Final

Maja Chwalinska23

Taylor Townsend66◀

Round of 128

Upset · Women's Singles · Round of 128

Yulia PutintsevaWorld No. 78def.Belinda BencicWorld No. 12

Final

Yulia Putintseva476◀

Belinda Bencic653

Round of 128

Upset · Women's Singles · Round of 128

Tatjana MariaWorld No. 80def.Jelena OstapenkoWorld No. 32

Final

Tatjana Maria466◀

Jelena Ostapenko612

Round of 128

Upset · Women's Singles · Round of 16

Qinwen ZhengWorld No. 52def.Iga SwiatekWorld No. 9

Final

Iga Swiatek53

Qinwen Zheng76◀

Round of 16

Upset · Men's Singles · Round of 128

Mariano NavoneWorld No. 45def.Novak DjokovicWorld No. 12

Final

Mariano Navone7⁷5466◀

Novak Djokovic6⁵7621

Round of 128

Upset · Men's Singles · Round of 128

Stefanos TsitsipasWorld No. 44def.Arthur FilsWorld No. 11

Final

Stefanos Tsitsipas47⁷66◀

Arthur Fils66³14

Round of 128

Upset · Men's Singles · Round of 64

Botic Van de ZandschulpWorld No. 40def.Alex de MinaurWorld No. 9

Final

Botic Van de Zandschulp676◀

Alex de Minaur452

Round of 64

Detected automatically: top-32 players beaten by opponents ranked at least 10 places below them.

Seeds Out at the 2026 US Open: the Final Tally

Each singles draw started with 128 players and 32 seeds, set from the ATP and WTA rankings of Monday, August 24. The official draw sheets at usopen.org carry every result from the completed tournament.

	Men’s singles	Women’s singles
Seeds eliminated	31 of 32	31 of 32
Logged as upsets	16	9
Highest seed upset	No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz	No. 8 Iga Swiatek
Champion	Alexander Zverev [1]	Elena Rybakina [2]

The last line is the twist. After two weeks that removed the defending champion, a 24 time major winner and three of the top six seeds, the man left standing was the No. 1 seed all along. Zverev is proof that a chaotic draw and a predictable champion are not opposites.

The women’s tournament told the calmer story it told all fortnight. All four top seeds reached the semifinals, the first time that happened here since 1975, and the No. 2 seed took the title.

One quirk shaped the men’s numbers from the start. Jannik Sinner withdrew with a right knee injury, so every man was seeded one place above his ATP ranking. Zverev’s No. 1 seed was his world No. 2 ranking.

The Biggest Upsets of the 2026 US Open in Full

Shelton over Alcaraz is the upset of the tournament. The eighth seed beat the defending champion 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(10-6) in four hours and 28 minutes, closing it out in a deciding tiebreak at 3.33am, the latest finish in US Open history. Alcaraz had won all five of their previous meetings. The loss guaranteed a first time champion and sent Shelton to the final as the first African American man in a major final since MaliVai Washington at Wimbledon in 1996.

Navone over Djokovic set the tone on day one. Mariano Navone won 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in four hours and 36 minutes. It was only the third first round loss of Djokovic’s career at a major and his first at the US Open. None of the Big Three reached the second round of a major for the first time since the 2003 French Open, and it dropped Djokovic out of the world top 10 for the first time since July 2018.

Zheng Qinwen’s run was the women’s story. Back through qualifying, she erased a 5-0 deficit to beat 22nd seed Madison Keys 1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5, then did it again to beat eighth seed Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3. She was the first qualifier in the women’s quarterfinals here since Emma Raducanu in 2021, and the first qualifier ever to beat Swiatek at a major, before Rybakina stopped her run.

Bu Yunchaokete over Jodar was the most lopsided. The lucky loser beat the 12th seed 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, the first lucky loser in the Open Era to beat a top 15 seed in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

Men’s upsets

Seed	Player	Beaten by	Round	Score
1	Alexander Zverev	Won the title	Champion	d. Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2
2	Carlos Alcaraz	Ben Shelton, seeded 8	QF	6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(10)
3	Felix Auger Aliassime	Karen Khachanov	R2	6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
4	Novak Djokovic	Mariano Navone	R1	7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
6	Alex de Minaur	Botic van de Zandschulp	R2	6-4, 7-5, 6-2
10	Arthur Fils	Stefanos Tsitsipas	R1	4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4
12	Rafael Jodar	Bu Yunchaokete, lucky loser	R1	6-2, 6-1, 6-1
13	Lorenzo Musetti	Dane Sweeny, wild card	R2	3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
14	Learner Tien	Karen Khachanov	R4	7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4
16	Brandon Nakashima	Alex Michelsen	R2	6-3, 6-4, 6-4
18	Jiri Lehecka	Stefanos Tsitsipas	R3	2-6, 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-1
23	Andrey Rublev	Daniel Merida	R2	6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
27	Tomas Martin Etcheverry	Alex Michelsen	R4	7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4
29	Cameron Norrie	Luca Van Assche	R1	6-7(6), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
30	Matteo Arnaldi	James Duckworth	R1	5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(8)
31	Zizou Bergs	Botic van de Zandschulp	R3	3-6, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3
32	Ignacio Buse	Benjamin Bonzi	R2	6-2, 7-6(4), 6-0

Women’s upsets

Seed	Player	Beaten by	Round	Score
2	Elena Rybakina	Won the title	Champion	d. Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
8	Iga Swiatek	Zheng Qinwen, qualifier	R4	7-5, 6-3
12	Belinda Bencic	Yulia Putintseva	R1	4-6, 7-5, 6-3
15	Diana Shnaider	Taylor Townsend	R3	6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3
20	Maja Chwalinska	Taylor Townsend	R1	6-2, 6-3
22	Madison Keys	Zheng Qinwen, qualifier	R3	1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5
27	Barbora Krejcikova	Kamilla Rakhimova	R1	7-6(4), 6-2
28	Sara Bejlek	Cristina Bucsa	R1	7-5, 4-6, 6-1
30	Jelena Ostapenko	Tatjana Maria	R1	4-6, 6-1, 6-2
32	Maria Sakkari	Yuliia Starodubtseva	R2	1-6, 7-6(4), 6-2

Three farewells ended early. Stan Wawrinka lost his last major match to Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils went out to Learner Tien in round two, and Venus Williams lost to Sofia Kenin in a first round that began at 12.13am, the latest start in tournament history.

What Counts as an Upset Here

Not every seeded loss was a shock. A result was logged as an upset if it passed at least one test:

1. A seed lost to an unseeded player.
2. The ranking gap was 30 places or wider.
3. A qualifier, wild card or lucky loser beat a seed.
4. A former champion or the defending champion went out before the semifinals.

That is why 62 seeds went out across both draws but only 23 results appear in the tables above, alongside the two champions. The rest lost to a fellow seed, which thins a draw without shocking it. Casper Ruud withdrew with a back injury before playing and Alexander Blockx retired in his quarterfinal, so neither is logged.

The 2026 US Open Finals

Men’s final: Alexander Zverev [1] beat Ben Shelton [8], 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2

Zverev won his second major of the year after Roland Garros in June, becoming the fourth man in the Open Era to win two majors in one season, after Jimmy Connors in 1974, Guillermo Vilas in 1977 and Jannik Sinner in 2024. He finished 2026 with a 25-2 record at majors, the most wins of any player in a single season since Novak Djokovic. He is now 6-0 in his career against Shelton. Shelton became the first American man to reach the final here since Andy Roddick won it in 2003, but the 23 year wait for a home men’s champion goes on.

Zverev reached the final by beating unseeded Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6). Shelton beat fellow American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, then Zverev broke him open in a 24 point rally at the start of the fourth set of the final and did not let go.

Women’s final: Elena Rybakina [2] beat Aryna Sabalenka [1], 6-4, 5-7, 6-2

Rybakina’s third major title ended Sabalenka’s bid for a third straight US Open. She had already secured the world No. 1 ranking by reaching the semifinals, becoming the 30th player to hold it and the first Kazakhstani world No. 1 in any sport. It was the first US Open final between the top two seeds since 2013.

The Giant Killers and How Far They Got

• Karen Khachanov, semifinals. Unseeded, beat Auger Aliassime and Learner Tien before Zverev stopped him in straight sets.
• Zheng Qinwen, quarterfinals. A qualifier who beat Keys and Swiatek from 5-0 down in both, then lost to Rybakina 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
• Alex Michelsen, quarterfinals. Beat Nakashima, Daniel Merida and Etcheverry before Tiafoe edged him 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(10).
• Botic van de Zandschulp, quarterfinals. Removed de Minaur and Bergs, then lost to Zverev on the way to the title.
• Taylor Townsend, fourth round. Two seeds down, Chwalinska and Shnaider, before Sabalenka ended the run.
• Stefanos Tsitsipas, fourth round. Unseeded, beat Fils and Lehecka.
• Mariano Navone, third round. Beat Djokovic and Berrettini before Etcheverry stopped him.
• Arthur Gea, fourth round. The first lucky loser to get that far since Corentin Moutet in 2022, and only the second in the Open Era.

Why Flushing Meadows Breaks Brackets

The US Open has the loosest form book of the four majors, and the reasons are structural. The Laykold surface is quick. Night sessions run past 3am, as Shelton and Alcaraz proved. Late summer heat and, this year, three days of storms punish anyone carrying a niggle or a broken routine. A New York crowd adopts an underdog inside three games and stays with them for four hours.

The record backs it up. Emma Raducanu came through qualifying in 2021 and won the title without dropping a set, still the only qualifier to win any Grand Slam. Kim Clijsters won in 2009 as an unranked wild card in her third tournament back from retirement. This year a lucky loser beat the No. 12 seed 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, a wild card beat the No. 13 seed, a qualifier beat Swiatek, and Djokovic lost a first round he had won 78 times in a row. Yet the tournament still ended with the top seed lifting the men’s trophy and the No. 2 seed lifting the women’s. Chaos here is a tendency, not a law, and 2026 proved both halves of that at once.

More From the 2026 US Open

• Full results: every completed score, round by round.
• Seed tracker: how all 64 seeds finished.
• Full bracket: the completed 128 player tree, plus free printable draw sheets.
• The draw: seed lists, matchups, withdrawals and wild cards.

The biggest upsets of the 2026 US Open removed 31 of 32 seeds in each draw and still finished with the top seed winning the men’s title and the No. 2 seed winning the women’s. Djokovic, Alcaraz, Swiatek and Sabalenka all went home early. Zverev and Rybakina did not. That contradiction is the whole story of the fortnight.

FAQ About the Biggest Upsets of the 2026 US Open