US Open Day 6 Debrief — Friday, September 4, 2026: Townsend had to win it twice, Tsitsipas found New York, and Shelton finished at 2:15 a.m.

Quite a lot happened in between.

Taylor Townsend lost a set she had almost finished packing away, Stefanos Tsitsipas turned a poor opening into his best New York result in nine attempts, Tommy Paul spent more than three hours removing Alexander Bublik from the draw, and Aryna Sabalenka had to ask whether someone could please stop smoking weed near the court.

A standard Friday in Queens, more or less.

Taylor Townsend was terrific for a set and a half against Diana Shnaider. She broke immediately, went 4–0 up and took the opening set 6–2 before reaching 5–3 in the second with the match sitting rather politely on her racquet.

Then it became awkward.

Townsend failed to serve it out. Shnaider found her timing, dragged the set into a tiebreak and won it 7–3. The match Townsend appeared to have completed was suddenly starting again from the beginning.

Her response was the useful part. She did not begin improvising wildly or treating every lost point as fresh evidence of disaster. She broke late in the deciding set and served out the match properly this time, winning 6–2, 6–7(3), 6–3.

Afterwards, Townsend explained the small conversation she had with herself: “I have one of the best serves in the world.” She decided to use it like one.

That gives her a fourth-round meeting with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and another noisy American crowd. Townsend is ranked No. 96, while Sabalenka has spent 99 weeks at No. 1. Townsend’s own assessment was shorter: “I’m built for these moments.”

Edge Market Wire’s HIGH-confidence Townsend signal landed, and this is one occasion where the interesting match also produced the right result. That will do for the betting lecture.

US Open match report and Townsend interview · Townsend–Shnaider highlights

After the opening set against Jiri Lehecka, another early US Open departure looked thoroughly available.

Tsitsipas lost it 6–2. Lehecka was the cleaner player and Tsitsipas had that familiar New York problem: plenty of tennis in him and nowhere particularly useful to put it.

The change was immediate. Tsitsipas took the second set 6–1 and pushed the third into a tiebreak, where he won seven of the ten points. By the fourth set, Lehecka’s early command had disappeared and Tsitsipas ran through another 6–1.

Final score: 2–6, 6–1, 7–6(3), 6–1.

The oddity is that Tsitsipas has been a Grand Slam finalist, a former world No. 3 and one of the leading players of his generation, yet he had never reached the fourth round at the US Open. Nine appearances were required.

He also noticed something unfamiliar from the Grandstand seats: affection. “They’re starting to embrace me,” he said afterwards. He even joked about handing credentials to everyone who had supported him.

That makes the win feel larger than a third-round result. New York and Tsitsipas have spent years looking at one another without making firm plans. They may finally have arranged something.

Official Day 6 results · Tsitsipas press conference · Eurosport highlights

Tommy Paul and Alexander Bublik met in this same round last year and produced five sets. Bublik won that one.

They apparently considered the arrangement worth repeating.

Paul took Friday’s opening set 6–4, but Bublik answered with 6–3 and then pinched the third-set tiebreak. At two sets to one, Bublik had the lead and Paul had another long afternoon developing around him.

Paul then won twelve of the next sixteen games.

The fourth set went 6–1 and the fifth 6–3. More than three hours after they began, the two exchanged a small pinky swear at the net and Paul walked off with his revenge.

His reward is Carlos Alcaraz, who had just dismissed Wu Yibing 6–3, 6–4, 6–1. When Alcaraz was told that Paul awaited him, he smiled and said: “Hopefully he’s going to be a bit tired.”

Fair request. Probably not a complete strategy.

Reuters Day 6 report · The Guardian’s live account

Sabalenka was already 3–0 ahead of Kamilla Rakhimova when she walked towards the umpire with an unusual problem.

“Someone is smoking weed,” she said.

The smell had drifted into Louis Armstrong Stadium, apparently helped by the wind. Sabalenka asked if something could be done, returned to the baseline and continued with her afternoon.

She won 6–3, 6–4, served ten aces and did not face a break point. Afterwards she laughed about the interruption and said people were welcome to relax however they pleased, preferably somewhere that was not beside a professional tennis match.

It was silly and very New York, but the tennis underneath it was serious. Sabalenka has now won 16 consecutive matches at the US Open. Townsend and the home crowd come next.

Reuters on Sabalenka’s unusual interruption

Serena and Venus Williams played Grand Slam doubles together for the first time in four years, and approximately 23,000 people arrived at Ashe ready to treat it as a final.

Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching won the match: 6–3, 6–7(6), 7–6(10–7). The Williams sisters still managed to own most of the evening.

Serena walked out in a customised jacket carrying reminders of earlier US Open triumphs. She and Venus then forced a deciding match tiebreak and had the stadium rising for almost every winner. Joint and Chan handled a rather unreasonable assignment with considerable nerve.

The result removed the sisters from the doubles draw. The evening itself belonged to them.

Reuters match report

Ben Shelton and Denis Shapovalov waited roughly three hours to get onto Arthur Ashe Stadium. Once there, they provided another four sets and the latest finish of Shelton’s career.

Shelton won the opening tiebreak, served for the second set twice and still lost it. He later admitted that the irritation helped sharpen him.

The following two sets were much tidier. Shelton won 7–6(3), 6–7(5), 6–3, 6–4 and finally left the court at approximately 2:15 a.m.

This matters because the earlier US Open roundup was published while the match was still running. Day 6 did eventually finish, and Shelton is through.

Completed Day 6 results · Shelton–Shapovalov match statistics

Emma Navarro removed seventh seed Karolina Muchova 6–3, 7–5 and reached the fourth round after time away from the tour.

Sorana Cirstea continued her farewell season by beating Jasmine Paolini 6–3, 6–3. Anna Kalinskaya eliminated Elina Svitolina in three sets, while Linda Noskova survived Ann Li and a loud Stadium 17 crowd, 6–2, 6–7(6), 6–2.

Daniil Medvedev completed a third consecutive straight-sets victory, Frances Tiafoe joined him in the fourth round, and the two now meet each other.

The tournament has reached the part where tidy opening-week stories begin colliding. Townsend gets Sabalenka. Paul gets Alcaraz. Tiafoe gets Medvedev.

Day 6 ran very late. Day 7 will not wait for anybody.