Riviere seeks to recover US Open title in Chicago
Fahey to seek record 50th Open title
The US Open in 2026 will feature 9 of the top 10 players in the world, following the draw conducted at the Racquet Club of Chicago on Monday. Camden Riviere will seek to regain his US Open title against the defending champion, John Lumley. Meanwhile, Claire Fahey will seek her 50th Open title at the upcoming US Ladies Open in Boston.
For the first time since 2013, Camden Riviere enters the US Open not with the moniker of “defending champion” next to his name, having lost his long-standing title to John Lumley at Westwood in 2025. Nevertheless, he still enters as the overwhelming favourite, having won all but two singles matches in the past 13 years. He has never lost a match at Chicago, with eight of his nine matches played being won in straight sets — the exception being the 2016 US Open final against Steve Virgona, where he won 6/4 in the fifth.
Defending champion John Lumley enters as the second seed. It will be a tough assignment for him to defend his title, though helpfully he has landed on the opposite side of the draw to Steve Virgona, who has been his undoing every other time the US Open has been in Chicago. Should both make the final, it would be Lumley and Riviere’s first meeting at the Racquet Club, and the first since the World Championship Challenge in Newport last September, where Riviere won inside two days.
Seeking to spoil the party is third seed Nick Howell and fourth seed Ben Taylor-Matthews. Howell has the tougher draw, with a potential quarter-final against home pro and fifth seed Steve Virgona. Should it occur, it would be a rematch of last year’s French Open final — won by Virgona — which promises to be the pick of the quarter-final matches. The winner’s prize is a likely-to-be insurmountable semi-final against Riviere. Meanwhile, Taylor-Matthews has a believable path to the final, albeit with several matches that could trip him up at any step along the way, with Freddie Bristowe and Bryn Sayers both capable of causing an upset — as the latter proved at the most recent British Open in four sets. He is seeded into a semi-final against Lumley, who he defeated at the same stage in the US Professional Singles last season.
In the first round, attention will be drawn to the match between Robert Shenkman and Nino Merola. The two played in both the 2025 US Open and 2025 US Pro Singles, with both matches won by Shenkman in straight sets. But with Merola’s recent victory over Howell in the Australian Open, he has demonstrated his potential to claim a big scalp — but it remains to be seen if he can carry that form into further competitions. Meanwhile on the other side of the draw, Leon Smart faces a tough battle to keep his World Number 7 place with a first-round match against Lewis Williams. Williams has pushed Smart closer each time culminating in their match at the IRTPA Players’ Championships, where Smart won in the deciding game of the final set. Another opportunity for an upset is Bertie Vallat in his first-round match against Bryn Sayers, the first time the two have met in competition. Finally, Darren Long and Josh Dodgson’s chances of reaching the quarter-finals seem slim as they have drawn into Riviere and Lumley respectively.
Two players will also enter the main draw through qualifying, with thirteen players fighting through three tough rounds of matches. In the first pathway — where the winner will play into Steve Virgona — Melbourne’s John Woods-Casey enters as the first seed, receiving a bye into the second round. It will be his fourth consecutive appearance in US Open qualifying, having fallen to Bristowe in the last two editions. He will face the winner of Ned Batstone and Zak Eadle. It will be Batstone’s first appearance in US Open qualifying, while Eadle returns for the first time since 2023. The battle for the other spot in the third round will be an intriguing mix of experience and youth, with Adam Player and Max Trueman in one match and Barney Tanfield and Henry Henman in the other. Picking a winner is a fool’s errand, with each able to stake their claim.
In the other qualifying pathway, playing into Nick Howell, both Vaughan Hamilton and Tim Chisholm receive seeds and byes through to the second round. It will be Hamilton’s second attempt at qualifying, while Chisholm misses out on an automatic main-draw entry for the first time since the tournament moved to a 16-player draw. Chisholm will play the winner of Pete Dickinson and Tony Hollins, while Hamilton will play the winner of Jack Josephs and Tom Durack.
In the doubles draw, three of the four pairs who will compete in the World Doubles Championships the following month at Moreton Morrell will use the US Open as their final tune-up. The exception is Nick Howell, whose World Doubles partner Robert Fahey is absent so will instead be partnered by Josh Dodgson. Even outside the top four, several of the other pairs will reprise their recent performances, with Darren Long and Bertie Vallat, and Robert Shenkman and Leon Smart carrying on their partnerships from the British Open, while Barney Tanfield and Freddie Bristowe will play their fourth straight US Open as a partnership. Further, both Henry Henman and Max Trueman, and Nino Merola and Lewis Williams will reunite their partnerships for the first time at the US Open since 2023.
The pick of the early-round doubles matches promises to be Merola and Williams against Hamilton and Woods-Casey, as all four are strong doubles players in their own right. The competition will be Hamilton’s first since winning the British Open doubles with Lumley. All of the pairs outside the top four will be match-ready to challenge the favourites, with memories of 2024 — where two of the four World Doubles pairs lost their first matches — still fresh in the minds of the players.
The US Open is now the only National Open where the women’s draw is held at a separate time and venue to the Open draw. Matches will be played at the Tennis and Racquet Club in Boston in early March, concluding a week before the start of Open qualifying. Claire Fahey will attempt to win her 50th Open title, which would put her equal with her husband Robert Fahey — both comfortably ahead of the next-nearest contender. She remains the strong favourite, with her nearest competitor being her doubles partner Tara Lumley. To reach the final, Lumley will have to fight through a likely semi-final against Saskia Bollerman. The two are separated by less than a point on handicap, though Lumley has held the advantage in their head-to-head match-ups since 2017. In the doubles, Fahey and Lumley are again the strong favourites, with the intrigue turning to the likely semi-final, where Bollerman will partner Xanthe Ranger to play Katherine Carney and Frederika Adam — the latter of whom will make her return to the elite women’s game for the first time since the 2022 Bathurst Cup.
Play in the US Open qualifying will begin on Monday 16 March, with the main draw commencing on Wednesday 18 March. The singles final will be on Wednesday 25 March and the doubles final on Thursday 26 March, with all matches taking place at the Racquet Club of Chicago. The US Ladies Open will begin on Friday 6 March and conclude on Sunday 8 March, with all play taking place at the Tennis and Racquet Club in Boston.
US Open draws (all matches listed top to bottom):
Open singles:
Camden Riviere (1) vs Darren Long
Nino Merola vs Robert Shenkman (7)
Steve Virgona (5) vs Qualifier 1
Qualifier 2 vs Nick Howell (3)
Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs Freddie Bristowe
Bertie Vallat vs Bryn Sayers (8)
Leon Smart (6) vs Lewis Williams
Josh Dodgson vs John Lumley (2)
Open singles qualifying:
Qualifier 1:
John Woods-Casey (1) vs BYE
Ned Batstone vs Zak Eadle
Adam Player vs Max Trueman
Henry Henman vs Barney Tanfield (4)
Qualifier 2:
Tim Chisholm (3) vs BYE
Pete Dickinson vs Tony Hollins
Jack Josephs vs Tom Durack
BYE vs Vaughan Hamilton (2)
Open doubles:
Tim Chisholm & Camden Riviere (1) vs BYE
Henry Henman & Max Trueman vs Qualifier 1
Nino Merola & Lewis Williams (6) vs Vaughan Hamilton & John Woods-Casey
BYE vs Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews (4)
Nick Howell & Josh Dodgson (3) vs BYE
Qualifier 2 vs Robert Shenkman & Leon Smart (5)
Barney Tanfield & Freddie Bristowe vs Bertie Vallat & Darren Long
BYE vs Steve Virgona & John Lumley (2)
Open doubles qualifying:
Qualfier 1:
Conor Medlow & Adrian Kemp vs Tom Durack & Adam Player
Qualifier 2:
Jack Josephs & Zak Eadle vs Pete Dickinson & Ned Batstone
Women’s singles:
Claire Fahey (1) vs BYE
Kathy Minevitz vs Victoria Scott (7)
Xanthe Ranger (6) vs Amy Wintersteen
Aidana Saudabayeva vs Katherine Carney (4)
Saskia Bollerman (3) vs BYE
Claire Voegele vs Frederika Adam (5)
Kadi Meldrum (8) vs Ashley Fitz-Patrick
BYE vs Tara Lumley (2)
Women’s doubles:
Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley vs Kathy Minevitz & Julia Knowlton
Amy Wintersteen & Aidana Saudabayeva vs Claire Voegele & Kadi Meldrum
Katherine Carney & Frederika Adam vs Ashley Fitz-Patrick & Victoria Scott
Grace Ormond & Lauren Rowles vs Xanthe Ranger & Saskia Bollerman