The list of absentees at the 2026 US Open has grown again after two more players withdrew before their opening matches were due to begin.

Main draw action at the 146th edition of the tournament began on Sunday, although several first-round matches remain unfinished because of rain interruptions on Day 3. The event, the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season, is being held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York City.

A total of 24 players have now withdrawn from the men’s and women’s singles draws combined.

Jannik Sinner, Victoria Mboko, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper were among the 18 players who withdrew before the draws were released on Thursday. Since then, six more have pulled out before their first-round matches, with Thanasi Kokkinakis and Tereza Valentova the latest to be ruled out through injury.

Kokkinakis had been scheduled to meet world No 13 Rafael Jodar in the men’s draw, while Valentova was set to face 25th-ranked Anastasia Potapova in the women’s event.

Casper Ruud, Joao Fonseca, Ugo Humbert and Marin Cilic were the other players to withdraw before their opening-round matches.

The men’s list now includes Sinner, Ruud, Fonseca, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Ugo Humbert, Ethan Quinn, Sebastian Korda, Holger Rune, Marin Cilic, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Gabriel Diallo, Emilio Nava, Patrick Kypson and Jack Draper. On the women’s side, the withdrawals are Victoria Mboko, Hailey Baptiste, Jaqueline Cristian, Tereza Valentova, Emma Raducanu, Irina-Camelia Begu, Jil Teichmann, Ajla Tomljanovic, Laura Siegemund and Varvara Gracheva.

Several replacements have already been listed across both draws, with alternates and lucky losers stepping in where possible.

Alex Eala opened her 2026 US Open campaign with a clear statement, rolling past qualifier Mary Stoiana and moving up in the Live WTA Rankings.

The No. 17 seed needed little time to assert herself on Tuesday evening, beating the 122nd-ranked American 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the hard-court Grand Slam. Eala controlled the match from start to finish, breaking Stoiana twice in each set while also showing stability behind her own serve. She saved all six break points she faced.

Conditions were not entirely straightforward. The match was played with the roof closed on Louis Armstrong Stadium because of rain on Day 3 of the US Open, but Eala managed the setting well and advanced without dropping a set.

The 21-year-old’s reward is a second-round meeting with Oleksandra Oliynykova, a 25-year-old Ukrainian who is ranked 46th in the world. Eala is now into the second round of the US Open for the second time. She previously reached that stage during her main draw debut last year.

After the win, Eala reflected on the differences she felt compared with her first appearance in the tournament. “It felt different [to last year], definitely,” Eala said in her press conference. “But not to say that one is more challenging than the other.

“It’s just different circumstances. It was my first time playing one of the main stadiums here in the US Open and it was very loud.

“And especially when the roof is covered. So that’s something that adds to the atmosphere, but it’s also something you have to navigate.

“Coming in as a seeded player and having done pretty good, I would say this American swing, it brings a different vibe.

“Of course, you’re a little more confident. There’s a little more expectations, but I think I handled it.”

Eala began the tournament at a career-high No. 18 after winning 10 matches across Washington DC, Toronto and Cincinnati. Following this victory, she is projected to rise two places to No. 16 in the Live WTA Rankings on 2,216 points, having earned 70 ranking points from the opening round.

Iva Jovic and Naomi Osaka, both above Eala at the start of the event, have dropped to 17th and 18th in the Live Rankings after points fell away from 2025.

By day three of the US Open, most of round one had been completed, with only a few loose ends still left to settle after a busy stretch at the Championships.

There were hard-fought wins and one-sided results across the board. Fifth seed and French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli recovered from a poor opening to edge Francisco Comesana in five sets. Iga Swiatek continued her strong form by defeating Xiyu Wang while dropping only five games, and Arthur Fery found himself outclassed by 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti.

On the women’s side, the biggest upset so far came when 12th seed Belinda Bencic surrendered a third-set lead and fell to Yulia Putintseva 3-6 7-5 6-3. Coco Gauff, meanwhile, handled the dangerous Zeynep Sonmez to keep her own US Open campaign moving forward.

Alexander Zverev also had to work for it. The Roland Garros winner trailed by two sets to one before defeating Lorenzo Sonego in a match that did not finish until just before 2am. Alex Eala impressed with a 6-1 6-2 win over Mary Stoiana in front of a lively Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd, while Gael Monfils, who turned 40 on Tuesday, beat Adolfo Vallejo in four entertaining sets.

Elsewhere in the tournament, attention turned to several talking points from the last 24 hours. Carlos Alcaraz’s use of different balls at the US Open drew discussion after comments from Tim Henman and Naomi Broady. Gauff also spoke about the progress she has made with her serve, saying, “Last year I knew all eyes were going to be on the serve,” and later, “It feels good to come into a tournament feeling confident on that shot finally.”

There were also concerns over Elena Rybakina’s movement after her win over Thea Frodin, while Zverev said of his late-night battle, “Actually, I’m happy that I won this kind of battle. This is exactly the match that I needed…” Monfils, fittingly, summed up his own flair with the line, “Two sets to one, a break up, happy… why not? I won’t hit many more to be honest. Why not? Yes, it’s harder. Somehow, it produces more happiness, more joy for me.”