Tsitsipas Stuns Cincinnati Champion Fils in US Open Opener

From 0-5 to Victory: Tsitsipas Flips the Script Against Fils

Stefanos Tsitsipas produced one of the more remarkable first-round turnarounds in recent Grand Slam memory on Monday, defeating Arthur Fils 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4 at the 2026 US Open. The Greek overcame a 0-5 head-to-head record against the Frenchman, a dropped first set, and a 2-5 deficit in the second to win four consecutive sets from that juncture.

Fils had arrived at Flushing Meadows as one of the most in-form players on the tour. He had claimed the Cincinnati Masters title the previous week — his first Masters 1000 crown — and in their five previous meetings had dominated Tsitsipas so thoroughly that the Greek had taken just one game in their most recent encounter, in Miami in March. For the first 90 minutes of Monday's match, that dynamic seemed set to continue. Fils took the opener 6-4 with clean, aggressive ball-striking, then raced to 5-2 in the second.

Then it stopped.

Tsitsipas held at 2-5, broke back immediately, and took the tiebreak 7-3. The momentum never returned to Fils. The third set went to Tsitsipas 6-1 in barely half an hour; the fourth followed the same arc, a break to lead, then a composed close-out at 6-4. The Greek finished with 50 winners against 38 for his opponent — a statistical portrait of a match that belonged almost entirely to one man once the second-set drama was resolved.

The Mouratoglou Effect

Much of the pre-match narrative had centred on the coaching configuration in Tsitsipas's corner. The 28-year-old split with his father Apostolos as primary coach earlier this year and has been working since June with Thomas Perrin as his day-to-day guide and Patrick Mouratoglou — who rebuilt Serena Williams into a multi-Slam champion during their decade-long partnership — in an advisory and tournament-side capacity. At the US Open, Mouratoglou occupies the coaching chair alongside Perrin.

The arrangement has already produced results: Tsitsipas won the title at Gstaad in July under this setup. On Monday at Ashe, the tactical patience during the second set — holding composure at 2-5 before executing the turnaround — bore the hallmarks of a player with clearer direction. "Remember who you are," Tsitsipas posted on social media after the match. The phrase felt less like a slogan and more like a statement of intent.

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Context: A Draw Suddenly Wide Open

The upset lands in a tournament already short of its biggest name. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrew before the event with a knee injury, handing the top seed to Alexander Zverev. Day 1 had already produced a seismic result when Mariano Navone eliminated Novak Djokovic in five sets, ending a two-decade run of Djokovic reaching at least the second round at every Slam he has entered.

With Fils gone, the section of the draw around that quarter loses its most threatening operator. Tsitsipas, who reached the US Open fourth round in 2022 before falling, now advances with renewed belief and a coaching setup that appears to have rearranged his sense of possibility. His second-round opponent will be determined by results elsewhere in the bracket.

For Fils, the defeat is an abrupt end to a summer of otherwise consistent progress. The 23-year-old will regroup quickly — the European autumn indoor season begins within weeks — but Tuesday morning in New York is a difficult one.