Auger-Aliassime flips the script on Armstrong
Under the lights at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Felix Auger-Aliassime took down third seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-4 in a nearly four-hour third-round fight that swung on a razor-thin second set. The 25th-seeded Canadian, who arrived in New York after early exits at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon, clawed his way back from a set down and saved a set point before squeezing out a 9-7 tiebreak that changed the match.
It’s his first trip to the second week of the U.S. Open since his 2021 semifinal run, and his first victory over a top-five opponent at a Grand Slam—exactly the kind of result he’s been chasing in a stop-start season. The win also denied one of the tournament’s most consistent contenders; Zverev had taken the opening set with authority and looked comfortable in the rallies before the momentum slipped from his grip.
“This feels good. This feels good,” Auger-Aliassime told the crowd afterward, a grin giving away the relief. “I’ve been coming here since 2018. I’m still young, but it’s been a few years and I’m working my way. Some of you it might be the first time you’re watching me tonight. But this feels really good.”
The turning point was as much about nerve as it was about tactics. Auger-Aliassime steadied his first serve under pressure and protected second serves with smarter placement, cutting off Zverev’s rhythm. He took the ball earlier, redirected pace up the line, and wasn’t shy about stepping inside the baseline to finish points. When the second-set tiebreak stretched tight, he backed his forehand, kept his feet set, and forced Zverev to hit one more shot. At 9-7, the Canadian finally broke the deadlock—and the match bent his way.
From there, the rallies tilted. Zverev still unloaded from the back of the court, but the German’s court coverage—usually an edge—had to withstand more variety and depth. A handful of loose errors at key moments flipped scoreboard pressure onto the third seed. Auger-Aliassime held his line on serve, mixed his locations, and showed a cleaner shot selection than he’s managed at previous majors this year.
Zverev’s first set hinted at a different outcome. He moved through his service games efficiently and was dictating with pace and height over the net, stopping Auger-Aliassime from finding easy short balls. But when the Canadian leveled, the German struggled to reassert early control in rallies, especially when pulled wide or asked to defend two or three heavy blows in a row. Midway through the third and fourth sets, small margins—one missed return here, one untimely error there—were all Auger-Aliassime needed.
The match’s length rippled through the night session. The women’s third-round clash between Maria Sakkari and Beatriz Haddad Maia was pushed back and didn’t begin until 11:28 p.m. on Armstrong. Organizers had sketched out contingency plans to shift play if needed, but with the crowd invested and the weather cooperating, they kept the slate intact.
What it means for New York—and the next round
For Auger-Aliassime, this was more than a scoreboard upset. It was validation that the patient work—resetting his patterns on serve, tightening his shot tolerance, trusting his forehand under pressure—can hold up against elite opposition on a big stage. The last time he felt this kind of traction in New York, he walked into the semifinals. The path is different this year, but the cues are familiar: cleaner decisions in tight moments, calmer body language after errors, and a serve that bails him out when the legs get heavy late in sets.
He’ll face Andrey Rublev next in the fourth round, a matchup that promises first-strike tennis and short, violent exchanges off the return. Rublev brings relentless depth and a blazing cross-court forehand; Auger-Aliassime will try to use pace changes and serve variety to keep the rallies on his terms. If the Canadian keeps landing a high rate of first serves and holds his nerve in the mid-court, he’ll give himself looks on return games.
As for Zverev, this stings. He came in as one of the favorites and had the start he wanted. But a razor-thin tiebreak went the other way, and a night that looked routine turned into a chase. The German built plenty of pressure over four sets; the finishing touches weren’t as crisp as his standard. In a tournament that rewards patience and resilience, he ran into an opponent who finally found both at once.
Armstrong played its part. The court’s faster feel under the lights, the crowd packed tight and loud, the rhythm of a long night session—it can swing a match’s emotional center. Auger-Aliassime tapped into that energy without getting swallowed by it, a balance he hasn’t always struck at majors this season.
Big picture: a player who’s been searching for a foothold found one on a night when the margins were tiny. One saved set point. A 9-7 breaker. Two clean sets to the finish. And, suddenly, New York feels open again.
