Blog: Viraj’s Sports Corner

US Open Madness: Upsets, Comebacks, and a New No. 1! 

Aug 18–Sep 7, 2025

By Viraj Mane

The final Grand Slam of the year — and maybe the most prestigious — has ended! And wow, after a boatload of twists and turns, here’s everything you need to know.

In the first round, most of the 32 ranked seeds got through, but not without some crazy battles. World No. 24 Flavio Cobolli edged out fellow Italian Francesco Passaro in a five-set, nearly four-hour match. Cobolli barely survived against a guy ranked 120 spots below him! Another close one came when American Brandon Nakashima (No. 30) beat Jesper De Jong in five sets, with the last set being a tiebreak — a real nerve test for Nakashima.

However, there were also some significant upsets. World No. 13 Daniil Medvedev lost to No. 45 Benjamin Bonzi, and let’s just say he was really frustrated after the match. Medvedev hasn’t been in form all year and even lost to Bonzi at Wimbledon. Another upset was No. 28 Alex Michelsen losing to Francisco Comesana in four straight forward sets. And shoutout to Reilly Opelka for making his match close against top seed Carlos Alcaraz.

Then came the second round — and things got weird. It started when the fifth seed, Jack Draper, had to walk off because of an injury. That’s when tennis fans knew it might be a long round for the top seeds. And they were right. Jakub Mensik and Alejandro Davidovich (No. 16 and 18) both lost in five-set matches to French players. Ugo Blanchet — literally a qualifier — took out Mensik, and Arthur Rinderknech, who is always a threat for upsets, got Davidovich. After that, No. 11 Holger Rune crashed out to ANOTHER qualifier, Jan-Lennard Struff. Struff, the serving beast from Germany, looked in form and had too much firepower. Brandon Nakashima again went to five sets, but this time he couldn’t hold his nerve and lost to Jerome Kym. And in a heartbreaker for top-10 seed Karen Khachanov, he blew a two-set lead and lost to Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. And… let’s just not even talk about Stefanos Tsitsipas. At this point, his losing isn’t even an upset — he barely has more wins than losses this year (21-17). 

In the third round, Taylor Fritz battled through a tough four-setter against Jerome Kym, while Novak Djokovic, Tomas Machac, and Lorenzo Musetti cruised through. Carlos Alcaraz absolutely crushed his opponent. But it was a rough round for American fans: Ben Shelton, who just reached a career-high ranking of No. 6, had to retire with a shoulder injury, and Frances Tiafoe lost to Struff (what a Cinderella run he’s having!). World No. 3 Alexander Zverev also lost, this time to Felix Auger-Aliassime, who finally looks like he’s back in form.

Round of 16! Djokovic easily ended Struff’s Cinderella run, and Alcaraz and Fritz got through in three tough sets. Sinner destroyed Bublik — the same guy who beat him earlier this year — 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. The “AI machine” was fully online. Alex de Minaur (“The Demon”) showed off his insane speed and beat qualifier Leonardo Riedi easily, and Felix kept his dream run alive by beating Andrey Rublev in three sets.

Quarterfinals: Novak Djokovic beat Taylor Fritz in four tight sets and then did a K-Pop “Soda Pop” dance — the crowd went wild! Carlos Alcaraz beat Jiri Lehecka (shoutout to Jiri for making the last eight), and Sinner crushed Musetti 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the all-Italian showdown. Felix kept rolling by beating De Minaur in four close sets to make his first Grand Slam semifinal since 2021.

Semifinals: The big question — would we get Alcaraz vs. Sinner for the third straight time in a Slam final? Novak gave it everything but lost to Alcaraz in straight sets, the third set looking easy as Novak was out of gas. Sinner dropped the second set to Felix but came back strong to win 6-3, 6-4 and book his spot in the final.

Finals: Whoever won would take the No. 1 ranking. The hype was real. Carlos was going for his sixth major, Sinner his fifth. “Play!” said the umpire, and off they went. Carlos took the first set 6-2, Sinner came right back 6-3, but Alcaraz turned up the heat and took the last two sets 6-1, 6-4. Match over in 2 hours 44 minutes. Carlos wins his sixth major title and is back to world No. 1.

Ranking Updates:

• Alcaraz → No. 1
• Sinner → No. 2
• Felix Auger-Aliassime → Up to No. 13
• Jiri Lehecka → Up to No. 16
• Frances Tiafoe → Down to No. 29
• Medvedev → Down to No. 18 

I hope you know a lot more about the US Open now — and stay tuned for more sports updates! This is Viraj Mane signing out.