Two points from defeat, Zverev survives 4hr 50min and reaches 100 Grand Slam wins
Lorenzo Sonego had never won a set against Alexander Zverev and was two points from putting the No. 1 seed out of the US Open in the first round, two sets to one up and 5-4 in the fourth. Zverev survived four hours and 50 minutes, won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 close to 2am, and recorded his 100th Grand Slam win of the decade.
Alexander Zverev, US Open 2026 | © AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Lorenzo Sonego had never taken a set from Alexander Zverev in six meetings. At 5-4 in the fourth set on Tuesday night he had taken two, led by two sets to one, and stood two points from removing the No. 1 seed from the US Open in the first round.
Zverev held from 30-30, broke to level the match, and won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 after four hours and 50 minutes, finishing shortly before 2am.
No No. 1 seed has lost in the first round of this tournament since Stefan Edberg in 1990. Across all four majors, the last man to do it was Ivo Karlovic, who beat Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2003. Sonego, who would also have recorded the second top-three win of his career, took the third set on a ninth set point in the tiebreak and then could not close the fourth.
The win was Zverev’s 100th at Grand Slam level this decade. Among active players, only Novak Djokovic, on 129, and Jannik Sinner, on 100, have reached that mark, and Djokovic was knocked out of this tournament in the first round on Sunday night by Mariano Navone. It was also Zverev’s 47th win of the season, more than any other man on tour.
A seed the draw has been removing all week
Zverev holds the top seeding here only because Sinner withdrew with a knee problem. He won Roland-Garros this year, beating Flavio Cobolli in the final, was runner-up at this tournament in 2020, and has reached three Grand Slam finals in 2026.
The match is the third in four days to run deep into the night at Flushing Meadows, and it lands in the middle of a scheduling row the tournament has not yet answered.
On Sunday, the first-round match between Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin began at 12:13am, the latest start in US Open history, and finished at 2:01am, the latest first-round finish the tournament has recorded. It was delayed by the four hours and 36 minutes Djokovic and Navone had just spent on the same court.
Frances Tiafoe then went five sets against Martin Damm on Tuesday, finishing shortly before 1am, and Zverev and Sonego went almost an hour later still.
