Eastern at the 2026 US Open

One of the biggest breakouts at the 2026 US Open hails from the Eastern section. 

New Jersey’s Michael Zheng—a two-time NCAA champion and recent Columbia University graduate ranked outside the Top 100—dismissed world No. 63 Fabian Marozsan en route to a third round appearance at his home slam. (In fact, he nearly went one better, battling Frenchman Arthur Gea in a grueling five-set encounter that extended nearly four hours, all in front of a hyper-partisan New York crowd inside the Grandstand.)

“[It’s] very exciting, especially to do it here in New York City,” Zheng said in press after his opener against Marozsan. “I didn’t get the chance to play the main draw the past three years…I was in qualifying. So to do it in front of a lot of alums and a lot of my teammates who came out to watch was pretty special.”

Even before the Flushing Meadows result, Zheng had been in the middle of a huge year on the professional circuit. The 22-year-old—who grew up training at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and at Centercourt Tennis Academy in New Jersey—came through qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw at all three previous 2026 majors. He defeated compatriot and former quarterfinalist Sebastian Korda at the Australian Open in January and then earned his first Top 30 win against Cameron Norrie at Wimbledon, where he incidentally also reached the third round. (In between these milestones he also found time to graduate from Columbia—remotely, while competing at Roland Garros.) Owing to all this success, Zheng broke into the world’s Top 100 at the conclusion of the US Open.

Other Eastern athletes also scored big wins at the final Grand Slam of the year, including juniors Michael Antonius, who advanced to the second round of the men’s qualifying tournament; 2025 boys’ doubles champion Jack Kennedy, who reached the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles draw; and reigning USTA Boys’ 16s National Champion Kamil Stolarczyk—who claimed a quarterfinal berth in the boys’ doubles draw alongside partner Daniel Malacek. (Stolarczyk and Malacek ultimately lost to eventual champions Aaron Gabet, of France, and Valentin Gonzalez-Galino, of Spain, in a third-set match tiebreaker.)

And New York natives Aleksandar Kovacevic and Mac Kiger nearly produced the upset of the men’s doubles tournament, holding multiple match points on their own serve in the third set of their second-round encounter with No. 3 seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic. Arevalo and Pavic—who finished as finalists at Wimbledon earlier in the summer—barely squeaked by the former Eastern juniors in a 10-point final set tiebreak, 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 7-6(7).

Congratulations to all USTA Eastern athletes who participated in the 2026 US Open: