Tiebreak sets the tone
On the hardcourts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Alex Michelsen defeated Daniel Mérida Aguilar 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the 2026 US Open. The American, seeded 46th, gave the Spaniard — who entered the match ranked 39th in the world and therefore the higher-ranked player — precious little to work with across the vast majority of the contest.
The opening set was an evenly matched affair that needed a tiebreak to find its winner. Michelsen kept his composure to take it 7-5 and claim the set 7-6. It proved to be the decisive turning point: whoever took that first set seized the initiative — and Michelsen never let it go.
Michelsen dominates on serve and return
Buoyed by winning the tiebreak, the American visibly raised his level. In the second and third sets he barely allowed Mérida Aguilar a sniff of a break point, taking both 6-4 and 6-3. The statistics painted a clear picture of his superiority: Michelsen held serve on 93 percent of his service games and converted 57 percent of his break points. Mérida Aguilar, by contrast, converted just 20 percent of his break points and held serve only 75 percent of the time — nowhere near enough against an opponent who was equally relentless on return.
Michelsen won 76 percent of points on his first serve and produced an exceptionally clean performance, committing just one double fault. Mérida Aguilar, meanwhile, racked up seven double faults and 36 unforced errors — more than double Michelsen's tally of 14. That error count proved a decisive obstacle for the Spaniard in the critical moments of the second and third sets.
Career-best for the American
Reaching the round of 16 represents a personal career-best at the US Open for Michelsen. In both 2023 and 2024 he had fallen in the second round. Now, for the first time, he stands among the last 16 in the draw — a result that underlines his rise into the upper echelons of the game.
Mérida Aguilar, despite an impressive run at the tournament, heads home early. The Spaniard, who had claimed his first ATP Tour title at the 2026 Croatia Open in Umag, had been one of the standout performers in the opening rounds after upsetting seeded Andrey Rublev. Against Michelsen, however, he simply did not have enough. The fact that the head-to-head record stood at 1-1 heading into the match belied the balance of power on the day. Once the first set was settled, Michelsen delivered a masterclass.
