{"id":2053,"date":"2026-09-07T00:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/?p=2053"},"modified":"2026-09-07T00:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:02:50","slug":"us-open-round-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/2026\/09\/07\/us-open-round-3-2\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open &#8211; Round 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Round 3 of the US Open 2026 was full of shocks and standout performances: Taylor Fritz was eliminated in a five-set battle, Coco Gauff and Iga \u015awi\u0105tek advanced, and Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev looked dominant. On the women\u2019s side, Zheng Qinwen stunned Madison Keys, while Emma Navarro pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the round.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfbe Men\u2019s Highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Francisco Cer\u00fandolo<\/strong> knocked out 9th seed Taylor Fritz in a five-set thriller, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alexander Zverev<\/strong>, the top seed, cruised past Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 7-6, 6-2.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Carlos Alcaraz<\/strong> overcame Yibing Wu 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, though his performance was scrappy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Learner Tien<\/strong> outlasted Jakub Mensik in five sets, showing grit and composure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tommy Paul<\/strong> avenged last year\u2019s loss to Alexander Bublik, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Frances Tiafoe<\/strong> advanced smoothly, beating Valentin Vacherot in straight sets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfbe Women\u2019s Highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Zheng Qinwen<\/strong> stunned Madison Keys 1-6, 7-6, 7-5, turning the match around after a shaky start.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/strong> edged Marie Bouzkova in two tight tiebreaks, 7-6, 7-6.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Coco Gauff<\/strong> defeated Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4, continuing her strong run.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aryna Sabalenka<\/strong> kept her title defense alive with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kamilla Rakhimova.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jessica Pegula<\/strong> ground out a three-set victory, showing resilience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Emma Navarro<\/strong> delivered the upset of the round, knocking out a higher seed to shake up the draw.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mirra Andreeva<\/strong> continued her rise, beating Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcca Fantasy League Impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Big winners<\/strong>: Managers who backed Alcaraz, Zverev, Gauff, and Sabalenka scored heavily.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Upset pain<\/strong>: Fritz and Keys exits punished those who relied on their seeded consistency.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dark horses<\/strong>: Learner Tien and Emma Navarro are proving to be unexpected point machines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcca Fantasy League Leaderboard Update \u2013 US Open 2026 (Round 3 Complete)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Round 3 is officially wrapped up, and with that, <strong>no more substitutions are allowed<\/strong> \u2014 the squads are locked in for the rest of the tournament. This also means the <strong>team owners are revealed<\/strong>, adding an extra layer of fun and rivalry to the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how the standings look after Round 3:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Christopher Columbus<\/strong> (Max &amp; Jared) has extended their lead at the top with <strong>143 points<\/strong>, showing consistency and smart picks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Serving looks<\/strong> (Anuschka Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen) is close behind in second with <strong>138 points<\/strong>, keeping the pressure on.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hit and Run<\/strong> (Don Hugo) surged into third with <strong>133 points<\/strong>, proving that bold selections can pay off.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Miny Moe<\/strong> (Don Hugo again!) sits just one point back on <strong>132<\/strong>, making Hugo the manager to watch with two teams in the top four.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hot Shots<\/strong> (Alastair Grey) rounds out the top five with <strong>131 points<\/strong>, staying firmly in contention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd25 Key Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>top five<\/strong> are separated by just 12 points \u2014 one upset or deep run could shuffle everything.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kids pick<\/strong> (Pat) and <strong>Dropshots<\/strong> (Roger Lauf) are tied on 129 points, lurking just outside the top five.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Several teams like <strong>Super smash<\/strong> (Pauline Dwyer) and <strong>Eish<\/strong> (Pat Vd Munckhof) are climbing steadily, ready to break into the top tier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfbe What It Means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>With <strong>subs closed<\/strong>, managers must ride out the rest of the tournament with their chosen squads.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Revealed ownership adds spice \u2014 rivalries between friends and family are now front and center.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"685\" height=\"555\" src=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2055\" srcset=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/image-12.png 685w, http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/image-12-300x243.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 685px) 100vw, 685px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"689\" height=\"543\" src=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/image-14.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2057\" srcset=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/image-14.png 689w, http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/image-14-300x236.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Round 3 of the US Open 2026 was full of shocks and standout performances: Taylor Fritz was eliminated in a five-set battle, Coco Gauff and Iga \u015awi\u0105tek advanced, and Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev looked dominant. On the women\u2019s side, Zheng Qinwen stunned Madison Keys, while Emma Navarro pulled off one of the biggest upsets [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-open-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2058,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions\/2058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}