Key events
Blanch, a decent prospect, is doing nicely in the second, down 3-6 but level at 2-2. His swinging lefty serve is decent, but his second delivery needs serious work; I’m sure Juan Carlos Ferrero will get it done.
Flavio Cobolli has never won a match from two sets down before, but he’s on course so to do now, holding to 15 to level at 2-2. Comesana has played well – the heavy balls help his scurrying, short-guy style – but the gap in class is apparent, and he’ll have to do something very special to win from here, especially given how much chasing he’s already done.
Back on Armstrong, Cobolli is serving for set four at 3-6 2-6 6-3 5-4. Comesana, though, hasn’t made things easy for him … but as I type, a leaping forehand is followed by a flat one that breaks the sideline at the corner of the service box, ridiculous behaviour. and that’s 30-0.
I feel more certain that Fritz won’t – I just don’t think his power is enough at the rarefied level, where he’ll be made to run and pivot more than suits him; he was easily dispatched by Zverev, 4, 4 and 2 in the Wimbledon quarter. But he’s just served out the first set against Blanch to lead 6-3.
So what is Cobolli’s ceiling? I really like him as a player – his forehand, his speed and his competitive charisma especially. If I’m being pressed to guess whether or not he wins a major, I’m going no, because I’m not sure what route to victory he has over five against Alcaraz or Sinner, but perhaps on clay he might find a way.
Comesana gives Cobolli all he has, but an ace is good enough for 5-3, and the Italian is within a game of a decider.
Comesana isn’t taking this fourth set and, at 30-40, Cobolli, who has perhaps diverted his focus to the not-yet-earned final set, sends down a double. He leads 4-2, but some of his momentum has been taken from him while, on Ashe, Blanch hooks a forehand wide when down advantage, and Fritz leads 4-2 in the first.
Fritz and Cobolli are seeded to meet in round four, with Auger-Aliassime potentially waiting in the last eight. I’d be a little surprised if it’s the American still standing at the end of that – I think the other two move too well for him – which is also why I think they’d give Zverev, the probable semi-final opponent, a harder time. But that’s a long way off; so far, Blanch is doing well, down 2-3 on serve in the first.
Yeah, Comesana has gone – or at least he’s gone in this set, broken again by Cobolli, who then holds in 70 seconds for a 4-0 fourth-set lead. This is going all the way, and it’ll take some kind of momentum shift for the Argentinian to win it from here.
Up 40-30, Blanch swats a backhand low into the net, but when Fritz makes advantage a long forehand return restores deuce – and given the serve was only 92mph, that was a chance. From there, Blanch serves out, and he’ll feel better for that.
And now Cobolli consolidates in double-quick time; he trails 1-2 but leads 2-0, while Fritz holds in the first game of his match against Blanch.
Cobolli and Comesana are back after a little recharge, the former sending the latter chasing to hither and yon before earning advantage with a deft volley … quickly confiscated for deuce. No matter: Cobolli soon makes advantage again and the pressure of his hitting is starting to tell, Comesana going long to cede the break. He leads 2-1, but is no longer in control of this match.
Fritz has made the final of this competition and will be one of many fancying their chances in the absence of Jannik Sinner and with Carlos Alcaraz returning from injury. No American man has won this title since Andy Roddick in 2003.
Fritz and Blanch are out on Ashe. Blanch is only 18, so this is by far the biggest match of his career; i can’t wait to see how he goes.
It stopped raining for a bit, but it’s now hosing down again, and there’ll be no play on outside courts until 2.45pm local, 7.45pm BST.
A huge serve earns Cobolli deuce, but a forehand from Comesana, leathered inside-out, means another break-back point … saved. Cobolli then makes advantage, hits to the backhand side, then whips a forehand that breaks the sideline at the service box, and that’s a set back. Comesana leads 6-3 6-2 36, and on we go.
Back on Armstrong, Comesana has held, forcing Cobolli to serve for the third set at 0-2 5-3. It’s 30-all, so there’s work to do.
Naomi Broady reckons Keys has a chance of winning this competition, but I’m less certain. I can’t see her beating Osaka or Rybakina, one of whom probably awaits in the last eight, nor Gauff or Andreeva, likely semi-final opponents. But of she gets it right, she can handle anyone.
Next on Ashe: Taylor Fritz (9) v Darwin Blanch.
Keys did her best not to win, but she got there. It’s always tough playing someone young and in the first round of a slam, she says, so she’s glad she fought her way through it. Asked how she controlled her nerves, she says she doesn’t think she did, but relied on backing herself and making a lot of balls.
She still sees herself as a teenager, she says, so it felt weird playing one, then advertises her podcast and tells us she’s constantly gardening – her neighbour is watering the plants while she’s gone -buying new furniture and making coffee.
Madison Keys (22) beats Alina Korneeva 7-5 6-4
Next for her: Havlickova or Bondar.
Coemsana forces break point, but Cobolli nails a first serve for deuce, then unleashes that forehand of his for advantage before securing the hold. He leads 5-2 in the third, and is a game away from halving his deficit. Meantime, Keys has match point on the Korneeva serve…
Then a forehand is flapped wide, and Keys leads Korneeva 7-4 5-4. I hoped that, after winning her maiden major, she’d compete without getting as tight, but no such luck.
Keys puts away a volley to raise match point, while Comesana misses break points as Cobolli snaffles a 0-2 4-1 lead. Has the match turned? Back on Ashe, of course Keys can’t convert, so must now move through deuce … and she sends down a double, of course she does.
Our Maddy being Oor Maddy, she promptly breaks Korneeva and is now serving for the match at 7-5 5-3. I’m not sure I’ve seen a player whose top and bottom levels are so far apart; her no-show in the 2017 final, when she lost 3 and 0 to Sloane Stephens is still raw. We’re at 30-all…
Meantime, having lost the first two sets, Cobolli has broken Comesana for 3-1 in the third; is this the start of a comeback?
Thanks Katy and hi everyone. In classic Oor Maddy style, Keys has just been broken back by Korneeva, serving at 7-5 4-2; the second is set is right back in the balance.
With that, Daniel is here to take you through the next couple of hours. Over to you Daniel …
Keys, having zoomed into a 3-0 lead in the first set before being pulled back and then prevailing, has charged 4-1 ahead in the second, and will be hoping Korneeva can’t mount another comeback. Cobolli’s chances of a comeback, meanwhile, appear to be diminishing, as he slips 15-40 down on serve, already trailing 6-3, 6-2, 1-1, but Cobolli gamely takes the next three points before painting the lines with precision and escaping with the hold! If he goes on to win this, that could be the turning point.
Rybakina, this year’s Australian Open champion, begins her campaign knowing that taking the world No 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka is in her own hands. It would be the first time the 27-year-old’s reached the summit. Our man in New York, Tumaini Carayol, has been looking at the permutations:
Rybakina begins this tournament sitting at No 1 in the live standings and in control of her own destiny. Sabalenka must win the title to have any hope of retaining the top ranking, but Rybakina will become the new No 1 regardless of all other results if she reaches the semi-finals. Should either Coco Gauff or Jessica Pegula win the title and Rybakina fails to make the semi-finals, they would take top spot. This additional pressure could further add to Sabalenka’s woes, but perhaps, after 97 consecutive weeks as the undisputed best player in the world, this is exactly what she needs.
There’s still no play away from Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, by the way. When the rain does eventually stop, we’ll have Elena Rybakina against the 17-year-old American Thea Frodin; Belinda Bencic, the 12th seed and former Olympic champion, against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva; the 24th seed Francisco Cerundolo against Austria’s Filip Misolic; and Australia’s Dane Sweeny against the fiery Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who lost nearly all his prize money at Queen’s in June after he was fined for a very sweary on-court interview which was broadcast live on the BBC.
Comesana has two set points of his own at 6-3, 5-2, 40-15, and an ace down the T seals it! Cobolli looks to the skies, or more accurately the roof, as he ponders his predicament. The fifth seed has never won a match from two sets to love down, and has a tendency to let his spirits flag when things aren’t going his way, so he’s going to have to snap that habit if he’s to avoid an unexpected first-round exit after such a fine summer.
Comesana extends his supremacy from 6-3, 2-1 to 6-3, 5-2 and the chances of a subdued Cobolli going the same way as Djokovic and Fils are increasing. Over on Arthur Ashe, Keys has two set points at 15-40, the New York crowd getting right behind the home player, and she goes for broke with a forehand down the line … but her timing is a little late and she misses. No problem, Keys gets the job done nonetheless, as she snatches the first set 7-5.
Korneeva holds for 5-5. Keys holds for 6-5. This is far more cagey than Manchester City’s spending, which is about to approach approximately £678trillion in this transfer window, with news that they’ve agreed a £125m deal to sign Enzo Fernández from Chelsea. You can follow all the deadline day moves here:
Cobolli manages to do what he couldn’t at the start the first set, holding from 40-0 up in the opening game of the second, but at 1-1 the Italian serves up two double faults, and misses a forehand and a backhand by a mile. He just can’t find any consistency. And he now trails Comesana by a set and a break, 6-3, 2-1.
A see-sawing first set on Arthur Ashe, where Keys led Korneeva 3-0, was broken back, but is now a game away, serving at 5-3. But the 31-year-old just can’t shake her 19-year-old opponent off and she falls 0-40 down, before Korneeva strikes on the second break point! Korneeva will serve to stay in the set at 4-5.
The luckless Thanasi Kokkinakis, so often cut down by injury, has withdrawn from the singles before his match against Rafael Jodar and has been replaced in the draw by Bu Yunchaokete, the 24-year-old from China, who’ll get the chance to improve on his 0-6 first-round record at grand slams.
No, because Comesana lands a 131mph first serve, his fastest of the day, and it gives him two set points at 40-15. Another stinging serve and the world No 119 secures the first set 6-3 against an out-of-sorts world No 6! Could Cobolli suffer the same first-round fate as Novak Djokovic and Arthur Fils? The Italian rips off his shirt, revealing what looks like a GPS tracking vest, as he sits on his chair waiting for Comesana to return to the court, but I’m not sure he needs any data to tell him he needs to up his game in the second set.
With the rain still pelting down, meaning play on the non-covered courts won’t begin for at least another 30 minutes, Cobolli, having worked hard to get back into the first set, promptly drops serve and is now serving to stay in it at 5-2. He’s entering the danger zone at 0-30 but regroups impressively to hold for 5-3. But can he stop Comesana from serving out the set?
Questions were asked after Keys’s Australian Open triumph last year about whether it would free the American up to win more slams, or if she’d be content settling for the one. So far it appears to be the latter, with the 31-year-old reaching only one major quarter-final since, but she simply has too much firepower for Korneeva early on and breaks for 2-0, before ripping a winner for 40-30 and then wrapping up the game. Keys leads 3-0.
Cobolli’s forehand has finally turned up for the occasion and he wears down Comesana in a rare lengthy rally at 30-40 on the Argentinian’s serve to break back for 2-3. Cue an obligatory roar. Keys, meanwhile, the runner-up in 2017 and the 2025 Australian Open champion, opens with a hold against Alina Korneeva, the 19-year-old Russian who’s making her US Open main draw debut.
Nothing’s going Cobolli’s way at the moment, as he thwacks his own leg with his racket while trying to hit the ball, as he’s taken to deuce once more on his serve. He recovers to get to his advantage, but then balloons another errant forehand well long, before finally getting on the board to reduce his deficit to 3-1.
It was also a day when Stan Wawrinka played his final grand slam match, Carlos Alcaraz made his return from injury and Aryna Sabalenka, after a shaky summer, started her title defence with a comfortable victory.
Comesana backs up the break to love for a 3-0 lead, just before Keys steps on to Arthur Ashe, in an entrance significantly more understated than Naomi Osaka’s on the same court last night. After Osaka’s jellyfish outfit at the Australian Open, Eiffel Tower-inspired dress at the French Open and Japanese kimono at Wimbledon, she completed her own calendar slam yesterday with this look. She said it was inspired by the former NBA star Allen Iverson, whom she described as a “trailblazer for shifting the way basketball players dress”. Osaka’s tennis last night was slightly less eye catching than her outfit, but she came through in two tie-break sets against Russia’s Anastasia Zakharova, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3).
With humidity levels of 90% plus, the conditions are brutal, even with the roof on, and Comesana is already dripping so much he looks as if he’s deep into a fifth set. “I never sweated at all,” declares the Federer-like Navratilova on the commentary, “it was just my DNA.” Cobolli, meanwhile, is made to sweat as he’s pulled back from 40-0 to deuce – the Italian’s main strength, his forehand, isn’t fully firing yet – and Comesana breaks for 2-0! Having been 0-40 down in the opening game. It’s been a strange start.
The first victory of the day goes to Comesana, who wins the toss and elects to serve first. It’s an inauspicious start, though, as he drops 0-30 down and then 0-40 when he slices a backhand into the net. Comesana, sporting a retro headband, saves the first break point with a charge forward before scrambling to deuce, but it’s a scrappy opening game, to be honest, and Cobolli soon has a fourth break point … it’s surely his for the taking as he does all the hard work … but he then blasts a forehand into the net! An improvised drop shot volley from Cobolli can’t stop Comesana from moving to game point, and the Argentinian escapes with the hold for 1-0.
Here come Cobolli and Comesana, with the Louis Armstrong roof keeping out the rain and ramping up the atmosphere. While it’s been a breakout summer for Cobolli, having reached the French Open final and Wimbledon last eight, Comesana’s had a rough 2026, winning only seven matches all year. Cobolli’s flashy, shotmaking game will likely be too much for the world No 119 from Buenos Aires today, but the Italian does have a point to prove at the US Open, having never been beyond the third round.
Away from Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, it’s been confirmed that play won’t start until at least midday New York time/5pm BST.
And what of the day three energy levels on the Sky Sports team? Martina Navratilova and Tim Henman are in good spirits (Martina especially because she’s the only Sky pundit who can boast that all of her title picks are still standing), but Laura Robson is feeling rather sweaty in the humid, heavy conditions, with rain forecast today. And right on cue … it starts raining. Gah. Play may not be starting on time on most of the courts now, though the roofs on Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong mean that Madison Keys v Alina Korneeva is guaranteed to get under way in half an hour, and Flavio Cobolli will be on court very shortly against Argentina’s Francisco Comesana.
Order of play – day session
11am start (4pm BST) unless stated
Arthur Ashe Stadium 11.30am New York/4.30pm BST
Madison Keys (USA, 22) v Alina Korneeva
Taylor Fritz (USA, 9) v Darwin Blanch (USA)
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Flavio Cobolli (It, 5) v Francisco Comesana (Arg)
Mirra Andreeva (5) v Janice Tjen (Ina)
Grandstand
Elena Rybakina (Kaz, 2) v Thea Frodin (USA)
Arthur Fery (GB) v Lorenzo Musetti (It, 13)
Iva Jovic (USA, 4) v Magdalena Frech (Pol)
Alex de Minaur (Aus, 6) v Andrea Guerrieri (It)
Stadium 17
Yulia Putintseva (Kaz) v Belinda Bencic (Sui, 12)
Daria Kasatkina (Aus) v Paula Badosa (Sp)
Rafael Jodar (Sp, 12) v Thanasi Kokkinakis (Aus)
Marcos Giron (USA) v Ignacio Buse (Per, 32)
Court 5
Filip Misolic (Aut) v Francisco Cerundolo (Arg, 24)
Anastasia Potapova (Aut, 24) v Darja Semenistaja (Lat)
Kaitlin Quevedo (Sp) v Elise Mertens (Bel, 23)
Jan Choinski (GB) v Botic van de Zandschulp (Ned)
Court 6
Gabriela Knutson (Cze) v Eva Łys (Ger)
Lucie Havlíčkova (Lze) v Anna Bondar (Hun)
Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Arg) v Arthur Gea (Fr)
Magda Linette (Pol) v Fran Jones (GB)
Court 7
Dane Sweeny (Aus) v Corentin Moutet (Fr)
Darja Vidmanova (Cze) v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Sp)
Arantxa Rus (Ned) v Leolia Jeanjean (Fr)
Court 10
Mattia Bellucci (It) v Zsombor Piros (Hun)
Jesper de Jong (Ned) v Francesco Passaro (It)
Nikola Bartunkova (Cze) v Mayar Sherif (Egy)
Court 11
Nishesh Basavareddy (USA) v Tristan Schoolmate (Aus)
Tatjana Maria (Ger) v Jelena Ostapenko (Lat, 30)
Fabian Marozsan (Hun) v Michael Zheng (USA)
Court 12
Maria Sakkari (Gre, 32) v Robin Montgomery (USA)
Zizou Bergs (Bel, 31) v Carlos Taberner (Sp)
Zachary Svajda (USA) v Daniel Altmaier (Ger)
Oleksandra Oliynykova (Ukr) v Reese Brantmeier (USA)
Court 13
Yulia Starodubtseva (Ukr) v Ella Seidel (Ger)
Camilo Ugo Carabelli (Arg) v Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger)
Alex Molcan (Svk) v Benjamin Bonzi (Fr)
Preamble
Hello, hello! Full disclaimer: this is my first day back after nearly three weeks on holiday and I’ve also spent the past three hours trying and completely failing to install some computer updates. So it may take a bit of time before I’m firing on all cylinders. Though Madison Keys, Flavio Cobolli and Elena Rybakina will be hoping for far smoother starts, as they get the action under way on the main courts on this third and final day of the first round, with Mirra Andreeva, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur to follow later in the day session, along with the British trio of Arthur Fery, Jan Choinski and Fran Jones. Coco Gauff, Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils and Alexandra Eala, meanwhile, play in the evening session* as Monfils – after Stan Wawrinka’s emotional goodbye yesterday – begins his final grand slam on his 40th birthday. Allez Gael! Two send-offs in two days would be too much to handle.
* By which point I estimate there’s a 0.03% chance of me figuring out how to resolve my IT issues