US Open Results
- Joseph Maiorana
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
The 2026 U.S. Open Rackets Championship is in the books after a whirlwind six days in Chicago that saw 181 matches completed across four separate draws alongside a full program of social events. The highlight of which was an unforgettable tournament stag dinner honoring former NARA president, Davis Anderson, for his incredible contributions to the game over the past 50 years.
The action kicked off on Tuesday afternoon with 56 players battling for four main draw spots in the US Open singles. This cohort included former World Champions James Male and John Prenn along with a whole host of rising stars. These matches were all played using an abbreviated two out of three format with the deciding game being a sprint to just five points! The four players who ultimately earned their place in the Main Draw of the Singles were as follows:
Singles Qualifying A Final Archie Green beat Henry Prenn 15-6, 15-7
Singles Qualifying B Final Spencer Yager beat Tom Loup 15-12, 15-14
Singles Qualifying C Final Hector Hardman beat Eli Segal 15-12,15-7
Singles Qualifying D Final Marty Kinsella beat Spencer Moore 15-1, 15-6
The doubles qualifying kicked into gear from Wednesday with 35 teams fighting for just two main draw places. There were many matches that were worthy of later rounds in other events such was the depth of the field. The results of the two qualifying finals were as follows:
Doubles Qualifying A Final Marty Kinsella & James Male beat Devin Vrabel & George Acheson-Gray 10-15, 15-11, 5-3
Doubles Qualifying B Final Hector Hardman & Archie Green beat James Medlow & Wilf Walker 10-15, 15-7, 5-2
Thursday afternoon and evening saw the four singles qualifiers join the 12 automatic entrants in the first round of the U.S. Open Singles. The qualifiers are acquitted themselves well before ultimately succumbing to their higher ranked opponents. However, Archie Green did take a game off top seed and recent British Open champion, Alex Duncliffe-Vines. There was one upset of note with Racquet Club of Philadelphia professional, John Lumley, knocking out #6 seed, Julius Manton Jones in straight games.
Friday started with the four singles quarterfinals and the storyline was Boston University student, Tarquin Sotir, underscoring his success at the Canadian Amateur in Montreal back in January by eliminating #4 seed, Will Annetts, in three highly competitive games. Sotir joined the top three seeds, Duncliffe-Vines, Freddie Bristowe and Will Hopton, in progressing through to the last four.
Friday afternoon saw a pivot to doubles quarterfinal action and the first match saw the tournament’s highlight reel moment with Hopton pulling off an outstanding between the legs followed by a behind the back shot for a winner combination that had the gallery in bedlam. The four top seeded teams all made it through to the semifinals although #3 seeds, Duncliffe-Vines and James Rossiter, were pushed hard by Peter Cipriano and Christian Portz.
The play on Saturday will live long in the memory of those in attendance with three out of four semifinals going the distance to five games. The day started with Duncliffe-Vines streaking into a comfortable advantage over Hopton and it seemed like he was set for a straightforward victory at 2-0 and 14-6 up. However, Hopton’s famous tenacity came to the fore as he battled off several match points to win 3rd game 15-14 before continuing the momentum in games four and five to complete a scarcely believable comeback in front of his home crowd. Bristowe and Sotir were on court next, and it was Sotir who forged ahead early by taking the first two games. He was in touching distance of the final as the third game headed into the set, but Bristowe maintained his composure to take 3rd 17-14 and was relatively untroubled in 4th and 5th as he reached his second U.S. Open Singles final.
The first doubles semifinal final saw current singles World Champion, Ben Cawston, and Hopton make the early running against Manton-Jones and Sotir before their opponents threatened another comeback by pushing game three into a set. Cawston and Hopton were relieved to escape that with a 16-14 win to secure a chance to go for a U.S. Open Doubles three-peat in Sunday’s final. The last match of the day was a true back and forth affair with numerous spectacular rallies. It looked as if #3 seeds, Duncliffe-Vines and Rossiter, were in the ascendancy for most of the contest but ultimately the greater experience as a team of #2 seeds, Bristowe and Lumley, prevailed in the end as they secured a hard fought 10-15, 15-8, 12-15, 15-11, 15-9 victory to book their third consecutive finals match up with Cawston and Hopton.
Sunday’s singles final began with the gallery eager to see who had recovered best from their exertions on Saturday with many expecting the younger Bristowe to have a physical advantage. However, right from the start Hopton was relentless with accurate serving and fantastic retrieving that kept his opponent on the back foot. The local crowd were right behind their Director of Athletics as he won first game 15-6 and looked set to establish a comfortable lead at 14 -7 in second. Bristowe fought off three game balls to push the game into a set and perhaps could have turned the match had he been able to tie the scoreline. However, Hopton wasn’t to be denied and secured the second game 17-14 with a sensational winner off the sidewall and never looked back. The third game went Hopton's way with an unanswered streak of 14 points from 1-4 down to secure his second U.S. Open Singles Championship 15 years after he first won the title.
The doubles final saw Bristowe and Lumley eager to reverse the trend of the previous two years and stop Cawston and Hopton securing a hat-trick of titles. However, they came up against the defending champions in unstoppable form and despite their best efforts never were able to put Cawston and Hopton under sustained pressure. Cawston hit numerous missiles from the backhand side and with Hopton proving impassable on the right wall the Bristowe and Lumley combination were short on options. The match fittingly concluded with a forehand winner from Hopton as he and Cawston became the fourth team (Hopton & Coyne, Stout & Larken and Billings & Owen) in history to win three consecutive U.S. Open Doubles Championships.
Elsewhere on the courts there was a further doubles rackets event with the Davis Anderson Cup being contested from Friday - Sunday by 38 teams. The loudest gallery of the weekend was for Friday evening’s cocktail match between Davis Anderson and James Male as they defeated Montreal duo, Dan Fisher and Francois Joyet. The Anderson and Male combination fought their way through to Sunday morning’s finals where they saw off multiple championship points to defeat James Hutton and Dom Wright. A fitting further tribute to Davis Anderson to secure the title in partnership with longtime friend and former world champion, James Male.
Finally, there was also a 38-team entry for a handicap doubles court tennis event. The draw was full co-ed and included some leading lights such as Chicago’s own Steve Virgona. The finals ended up being a family affair with the father/son team of Christopher and Julius Manton-Jones defeating the Taylor brothers, Theo and Will, by 8 games to 6.
Off the court it would be remiss not to mention the stag dinner with 185 attendees packed into the club’s main dining on Friday night to celebrate and acknowledge Davis Anderson’s many years of dedicated support to the game. The evening started with cocktails in the grill that included video messages from Willie Surtees, Garth Milne and Charle Hue-Williams. The Racquet Club of Chicago’s President, Ethan Meers, oversaw proceedings as emcee and the evening featured speeches from Tournament Chairman, Baker Thompson, and NARA President, Lucas Walsh, before dinner was served. The food as always in Chicago was spectacular and after the main course the audience settled in to listen to Rick Durkes, James Male, Jonathan Larken, John Prenn, and finally John Cashman talk glowingly about Davis Anderson. Cashman also presented Anderson with a beautiful commemorative poster signed by all those who were present. Finally, Anderson spoke movingly about rackets and the incredible camaraderie within the game. It was a very special evening for all those lucky enough to be there.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who made the tournament such a success including the event committee, all of the Racquet Club staff and the event participants who travelled from far and wide to be in Chicago. It was a truly a U.S. Open to remember! Until next time….
You can find the results from every draw contested throughout the weekend via the links below:
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