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Welcome to the U.S. Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.

On Day 5, two players involved in a fractious altercation returned to the court, two five-set comebacks rocked the men’s draw and one of the rarest scorelines in tennis reappeared.

Contrasting fortunes for Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko on the doubles court

A day after Jelena Ostapenko appeared to tell Taylor Townsend that she had “no education” after a loss to the American in singles, their fortunes continued to head in opposite directions on the doubles court.

They were both back out on the court for the opening round of doubles, Townsend got a hero’s welcome on the Grandstand when she walked onto court with Kateřina Siniaková. Townsend is the current doubles world No. 1; Siniaková is possibly the greatest active doubles player out there. Townsend isn’t far off. They are the top seeds at the U.S. Open, and they played like it Thursday afternoon.

Siniaková and Townsend beat Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 7-5, 6-2. Townsend, who might have been the most-talked about tennis player in the country Thursday after her confrontation with Ostapenko went viral, had the crowd relishing every punishing volley she put away.

While Townsend triumphed, Ostapenko imploded. The Latvian, a top doubles player herself, teamed up with Barbora Krejčíková — who has won multiple titles with her Czech compatriot Siniaková — against Timea Babos of Hungary and Luisa Stefani of Brazil. But it was the same story on the court as it was against Townsend: Ostapenko and Krejčíková raced out ahead, and then there was a collapse as Babos and Stefani climbed out of a one-set hole to prevail.

Ostapenko kept the handshake simple this time. She even apologized for a net cord.

Matt Futterman

A tale of two comebacks

For a couple of sets of their respective matches, it looked as though No. 9 seed Karen Khachanov and No. 19 seed Francisco Cerúndolo were both taking care of business and on their way to a third round against one another.

Khachanov led Poland’s world No. 76 Kamil Majchrzak by two sets, while Cerúndolo was up by the same margin against world No. 435 Leandro Riedi of Switzerland.

Then, everything started to unravel. Majchrzak and Riedi fought back, and somehow, against what would have been crazily long odds, both pulled off five-set victories against the higher ranked players. Majchrzak came through 10-5 in a final set tiebreak, while Riedi won his final set 6-2 against Cerúndolo.

All of which means that two players with a combined ranking of 511 will face off in the third round of a Grand Slam, with the chance to take on Alex de Minaur or Daniel Altmaier in what will either be Majchrzak’s second straight fourth-round appearance at a major, or the first of Riedi’s career. The Swiss had never won a Grand Slam match before this tournament.

Khachanov and Cerúndolo meanwhile will be left cursing not only their losses but also exiting a part of the draw that feels wide open.

Kamil Majchrzak also reached the third round at the French Open earlier this year. (Sarah Stier / Getty Images)

Charlie Eccleshare

A double bagel is rare in tennis. This kind of double bagel is even rarer

The double bagel — a 6-0, 6-0 result — is one of the rarest and most exposing scorelines in sports. It can happen, but requires one player to maintain preternatural focus while the other never gets going, at a level where just about everyone has a serve and forehand just about good enough to win four points and with them a game.

Now imagine all of that, but with four players instead of two. Thursday at the U.S. Open saw not just a double bagel, but a doubles double bagel, as Wimbledon champions Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens beat Yvonne Cavalle-Relmers of Spain and Solana Sierra of Argentina 6-0, 6-0 in 49 minutes.

This is a mismatch, but it was cruelly closer than the scoreline suggests. Cavalle-Relmers and Sierra saved three break points in the opening game, but couldn’t stave off a fourth; the same thing happened in their second service game. And while they did not create a break point of their own, they did get to 30-30 and 40-40 on several occasions.

The bagel is a dominant scoreline whichever way it is sliced, but the outcome of a point or two can turn what might have been a 1 or a 2 on the scoreboard into a 0. In doubles, where the player serving has the additional protection of a partner to either intercept returns or take heat off the loneliness of going through such a result alone, it’s an even more striking one.

Matt Futterman

Other notable results on Day 5:
Iga Świątek (2) came through a difficult match against Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands. The Wimbledon champion raced through the first set, but Lamens — who can match Świątek for heaviness on her forehand and court coverage on defense — grew in confidence, with Świątek unable to meaningfully change the rhythm of their baseline exchanges. Still, the second seed prevailed, resetting after losing the second set to go through 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Kamil Majchrzak of Poland came from two sets down and saved five match points to knock out Russian No. 9 seed Karen Khachanov, 2-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(10-5)
Jannik Sinner (1) eased past a dangerous opponent in Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
And Coco Gauff (3) came through a surreal night on Arthur Ashe Stadium to beat Donna Vekić 7-6(5), 6-2.
Shot of the day

No. 11 seed Karolina Muchová pulls off a signature heist with a side-to-side scramble against Sorana Cîrstea of Romania.

Up next

🎾 Elena Rybakina (9) vs. Emma Raducanu

11 a.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+

A potential barnburner to begin on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Rybakina’s crystalline ballstriking could keep Raducanu off-balance and on the run; Raducanu’s ability to change the height and speed of her shots could take the ball out of Rybakina’s strike zone and pull out errors. An enthralling matchup to start the day.

🎾 Luciano Darderi (32) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2)

11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+

Luciano Darderi is the next Italian player not named Jannik Sinner — nor Matteo Berrettini — to try to defeat Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard eviscerated Darderi’s compatriot, Mattia Bellucci, in the second round, playing with the kind of ruthlessness and aggressiveness that he normally reserves for the rounds that really matter. If Alcaraz turns up in that form again, things will look scary for the No. 32 seed.

🎾 Ben Shelton (6) vs. Adrian Mannarino

2 p.m. ET (estimated) on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+

Ben Shelton is making tennis strides at every tournament, slowly nudging his rally tolerance higher and his returns deeper, making his opponents play more balls and more points rather than going for the ultra-aggressive, flashy tennis that he knows he will need in reserve in case of a deep run in New York. He faces Adrian Mannarino fresh from beating the Frenchman at the Canadian Open, but with a Grand Slam memory deeper in the recesses of his mind. Mannarino came from 2-1 down in sets to beat Shelton at the 2024 Australian Open, scrambling the young American’s tennis brain with his variations in speed and spin, taking the ball hyper-early and finessing volleys out of the air.

🎾 Taylor Townsend vs. Mirra Andreeva (5)

9:30 p.m. ET (estimated) on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+

Townsend has become the most-talked about player at the U.S. Open the past two days, and now has the opportunity to do her talking with her racket once again. That’s how she described her win over No. 25 seed Ostapenko in the second round, which ended in a furious confrontation in which Ostapenko appeared to tell Townsend that she has “no education.” This time, she faces No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva, who has silently eased through the draw up to now.

U.S. Open men’s draw 2025U.S. Open women’s draw 2025

Tell us what you noticed on the fifth day…

(Top photo of Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic)