Four ATP players now have a golden opportunity at the US Open after Alexander Zverev exits the tournament

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Alexander Zverev is the highest ranked player to exit the US Open men’s singles draw so far.

Zverev reached the Australian Open final earlier this year, but some of his Grand Slam results since then have not quite lived up to being world number three.

This was particularly highlighted last month, when Zverev lost in the first round of Wimbledon.

However, after being handed a seemingly generous draw, Zverev was predicted to reach the US Open semifinals, but that has not happened and left a big opening for four other players.

Felix Auger-Aliassime creates big opening for himself and three other players at the US Open

Zverev admitted he was not enjoying the conditions at the US Open this year, but managed to win both of his opening two matches in straight sets.

However, the German’s game came undone against Felix Auger-Aliassime, as he was beaten 4-6 7-6(7) 6-4 6-4, to suffer his earliest US Open exit in seven years.

Despite being a former world number six, this is only Auger-Aliassime’s second top 10 win at a Grand Slam, with his other also coming over Zverev at Wimbledon in 2021.

With the world number three now out of this section, it has confirmed that one of Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev or world number 435 Leandro Riedi will be in the US Open semifinals this year.

Of these four players, only Auger-Aliassime has been in a Grand Slam semifinal before, which he achieved at the US Open in 2021.

This may give the Canadian an advantage, especially as two of the players he is competing against to reach the semifinals are starting to develop a poor record at this stage of major tournaments.

Why Felix Auger-Aliassime may be the favourite to reach the US Open semifinals

Auger-Aliassime is the only one of the four players who has reached a Grand Slam semifinal before, and two of those players face a real obstacle to overcome.

Both Rublev and De Minaur have been in multiple Grand Slam quarterfinals, but they have never won one.

De Minaur has lost five major quarterfinals in his career, but that is nothing compared to Rublev who has lost 10 Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Despite this, De Minaur and Rublev could actually face off in the quarterfinals, which would confirm that one of them will finally reach a major semifinal.

The real underdog in all of this is Riedi, who has come through qualifying and had never won a Grand Slam main draw match before the 2025 US Open.