US Open Upsets: Fritz and Cobolli Exit as Cerundolo and Blockx Advance
Taylor Fritz walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium looking like a man searching for a door that had just vanished.
Two sets up. A break up in the third. In complete control at his home Slam. And then, somehow, out.
The ninth seed, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2024 and widely tipped to charge deep again in a wide-open men’s draw, unravelled against Francisco Cerundolo, losing 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 to the Argentine, who refused to go away and then simply took over.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Fritz admitted afterwards. “I don’t really want to talk to anybody, see anybody. I need to get out for a couple days and then get back to work. I don’t know how I let that happen today.”
From cruise control to crash in three sets.
Cerundolo turns the screw
For two sets, Fritz looked every inch the man ready to seize a golden chance. With Novak Djokovic gone, Jannik Sinner absent and Carlos Alcaraz only just back from a wrist injury, the American had a clear lane in front of him. He started like a player who knew it.
He bullied Cerundolo from the baseline, took the ball early, and went an early break up in the third. The crowd settled in for a straight-sets procession.
Then the match flipped.
Cerundolo began to dig in on return, lengthening rallies, asking Fritz to hit one more ball, then another. The American’s first-serve percentage dipped, his forehand timing slipped, and the tension crept in. The Argentine seized the third set 6-3, and suddenly belief crackled on his side of the net.
The pressure told again in the fourth. Cerundolo kept finding depth, Fritz kept searching for the rhythm he’d lost. At two sets all, the stadium sensed the upset coming. By the time Cerundolo broke in the decider and held his nerve down the stretch, the shock felt inevitable.
He moves into the fourth round, where he will meet another surprise name: Alexander Blockx.
Cobolli collapses as Blockx surges
Less than an hour after Fritz’s exit, the men’s draw blew open even wider.
Fifth seed Flavio Cobolli, another of the supposed beneficiaries of the chaos at the top, fell apart against Belgium’s Blockx, losing 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 0-6 3-6.
Cobolli had edged a tight first set on a tie-break and looked poised to assert himself. Instead, his level dropped sharply. Blockx grew bolder, more aggressive, and when the Italian surrendered the third set to love in just 20 minutes, the contest turned into a rout.
“I think my energy was a little bit lower than the other days,” Cobolli said. “I feel a little bit more tight and maybe more tired.”
He did not hide from the outcome.
“Alex is very good guy outside the court. He deserved to win, and he won,” he added, even pledging to support Blockx in the next round.
That next round now offers Blockx and Cerundolo something neither would have expected at the start of the fortnight: a straight shot at a US Open quarter-final.
Seeds scattered across Flushing Meadows
The story of this US Open men’s event has been simple: no favourite is safe.
The first thunderclap came on day one. Novak Djokovic, chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title, fell in five sets to Argentina’s Mariano Navone. The fourth seed left the court in tears, his bid for history smashed before the tournament had even settled into its rhythm.
The upsets kept coming.
Tenth seed Arthur Fils exited in the opening round, beaten in four sets by former world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas. Third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, the highest-ranked casualty so far, crashed out in round two against Karen Khachanov. Sixth seed Alex de Minaur followed at the same stage.
One by one, the big names at the top of the draw disappeared, leaving a gaping hole where the established order used to be.
That vacuum seemed tailor-made for Fritz and Cobolli. Both had a clear path to the second week. Both knew it. Neither survived the first week.
For Fritz, at his home major, the sting cuts deeper. He was bidding to become the fifth American man into the last 16, feeding a growing belief that, 23 years after Andy Roddick’s 2003 triumph, a home player might finally lift the trophy again.
That dream is still alive for others. Fritz will know he let his best chance in years slip through his fingers.
Cobolli, too, sees his hopes of a first Grand Slam title pushed back to another Slam, another surface, another season.
Zverev’s opening, and a lopsided draw
All of this carnage has left one man looming large over the top half: Alexander Zverev.
The top seed now stands as the only top-10 player left in that section. In fact, with Fritz and Cobolli gone, only two top-20 names remain alongside him in the top half: 14th seed Learner Tien and 17th seed Jakub Mensik. They face each other on Friday, meaning one of them will also fall before the second week deepens.
The path in front of Zverev looks startlingly clear. He could reach the final without facing a single top-10 opponent and is guaranteed not to meet another top-20 player before the semi-finals.
In a Slam that has already shredded the script, that kind of opportunity rarely comes twice.
Mixed fortunes for the doubles hopefuls
Away from the singles drama, British interest in the men’s doubles produced a mixed day.
Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris battled through a tight three-setter, beating Anirudh Chandrasekar and Ivan Liutarevich 6-4 5-7 6-4 to move on. Neal Skupski, partnering American Christian Harrison and seeded fifth, advanced with authority, brushing aside Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez 6-0 7-6 (7-3).
Not everyone escaped.
David Stevenson and Marcus Willis pushed hard but fell 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 to the 11th seeds, Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul, their run stopped just as the draw was starting to open up.
On a day when favourites fell and outsiders surged, the pattern felt familiar.
The men’s draw at Flushing Meadows is no longer just open. It is exposed, stretched, and there for the bravest to claim. Who will actually step through that gap is now the most compelling question of the tournament.
