The U.S. Open is starting off strong with a Wimbledon rematch, as Matteo Berrettini once again faces Stan Wawrinka in the Swiss’ last season on tour. Ben Shelton will also be in first-round action against Tallon Griekspoor on Tuesday.
Matteo Berrettini vs. (WC) Stan Wawrinka
Let’s start with how Wawrinka got here. The USTA handed its last main-draw wild card to Patrick Kypson, an American ranked outside the top 100, and passed over a man who won this title in 2016 and is playing his final season. Wawrinka confirmed the rejection himself and had already flown home to Switzerland. Suddenly, everything changed. Kypson withdrew due to injury, the spot opened up, and the USTA gave him the farewell it should have offered in the first place.
His first-round match by itself is a rematch worth showing up for. Two months ago at Wimbledon, Wawrinka and Berrettini played for four hours and 20 minutes in the first round. Every set finished in a tiebreaker, and Wawrinka saved six set points in an 18-16 second-set ‘breaker before Berrettini closed it out and won 6-7(9), 7-6(16), 7-6(7), 7-6(5). The Italian has since climbed to 43rd in the rankings, up 62 spots in three months. Wawrinka is 127th, 7-15 on the year, and hasn’t won a match at Flushing Meadows since 2023. Still, Berrettini is notoriously spotty on hard courts — mostly owing to his being particularly injury-prone on the unforgiving surface. This isn’t likely to be an easy win for Berrettini, who is better on grass.
Cheryl pick: Berrettini in 5
Ricky pick: Berrettini in 5
(8) Ben Shelton vs. Tallon Griekspoor
Ben Shelton comes into New York with the best summer of anyone in the bottom half of this draw. He defended his title in Montreal without dropping a set, which put him in the company of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal in Canadian Open history. Then he went to Cincinnati and lost in the second round to Jaime Faria, looking like a guy who had played too much tennis in too few days. I’m not reading much into that one. He is 33-13 on the season with four titles across hard, clay, and grass, and Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal moved him from ninth in the rankings to the eighth seed here — which keeps the top four away until the quarterfinals.
Tallon Griekspoor is a nastier first-round draw than his ranking suggests. He is 56th in the world and 12-16 on the year, but 10-8 of that is on hard courts — and he is the man who took out world No. 3 Alexander Zverev in Montreal three weeks ago. The problem is that he hasn’t hit a competitive ball since, and he is 0-3 at majors in 2026. Shelton and Grieksoor have never gone head-to-head, which cuts both ways — although it’s the returner who usually pays for that. Shelton is playing at home with a fine summer hard-court swing under his belt. Look for the American to advance.
Cheryl pick: Shelton in 4
Ricky pick: Shelton in 3
WWW?
Btini in an entertaining 3; Shelton in 3.