Rain kept Day 3 of the U.S. Open 2026 in motion at a crawl, but Alexander Zverev still got his turn in the prime-time spotlight at Flushing Meadows. The outer courts had already resumed after an earlier suspension, and the schedule kept unfolding around delays that changed the rhythm of the day without stopping it.
That made the search for results immediate. Flavio Cobolli, Taylor Fritz, Elena Rybakina, Mirra Andreeva and Madison Keys all moved on in the early session, while Belinda Bencic was upset in three sets. Later, Coco Gauff opened the night session on Arthur Ashe with a straight-sets victory over Zeynep Sönmez, giving the evening a clean start after a messy afternoon.
Zverev’s match carried its own strain. Lorenzo Sonego won seven of seven possible points at the net against him, a sharp edge in a contest that still swung back when Zverev forced break point and finally secured a break. In a day built around interruptions, that kind of momentum mattered more than a smooth scoreline. It was also the sort of test that separated the players who could settle quickly from those who could not.
The day’s most memorable finish belonged to Gaël Monfils. He was trying to reach the second round of what he has called his final Grand Slam on his 40th birthday on Louis Armstrong, and he did it with a win that made him the oldest singles winner at Flushing Meadows in more than 30 years. Monfils said “Woohoo” as he took his first match point, advanced in his 18th career U.S. Open, and then heard the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium sing “Happy birthday!” after his post-match interview.
That is the shape of Day 3 now: rain delays still hanging over the schedule, big names already through, one seeded player out, and Zverev still in the center of a night that can change again if the weather does. The next question is not whether the tournament keeps going. It is how much of what is left can be played without the rain deciding the order.
