Tennis
2026-08-30 - Alex Michelsen vs Federico Cina
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : US Open Tennis First Round
Sunday 30th August 2026 - Scheduled 5pm EST
10pm (British Time)
Preview
The US Open has to be the big target for every single American player who is working their way onto the Tour and Alex Michelsen will be hoping he can have an impact here this season.
The last couple of years have both ended prematurely for the World Number 45, but Alex Michelsen has won a Challenger event on the hard courts in the build up to the final Grand Slam of the season and played at a decent level when the Tour moved into the bigger hard court events over the last month.
All of that can help Alex Michelsen and he has been given a decent opening draw considering he is not in a Seeded position.
Of course that does not mean Michelsen can approach this match with a poor attitude and instead it is on the higher Ranked player to exert his authority on an opponent that has limited hard court experience.
The serve is a big weapon for Alex Michelsen and that is going to be the key to this match- he has been pretty steady serving with around an 86% hold mark no matter the Ranking of the opponent, but the key for the home player here is getting the return game operating at a standard to make this a relatively comfortable match.
Any player that battles through the Qualifying Rounds has to be respected, but the 19 year old Federico Cina has perhaps surprisingly made it through. The World Number 181 won a Challenger on the hard courts earlier this season, but he had played three hard court matches in preparation for the US Open over the last six weeks and Federico Cina won one.
That includes losing early in the Challenger event that Alex Michelsen went on to win, but it also underlines the improvement of level needed to earn the upset.
Federico Cina’s raw numbers look reasonable in the relatively small hard court sample provided in 2026, but he has not played a single player inside the top 100 of the World Rankings. During his career, Cina has played three hard court matches against those players and produced a 1-2 record with all of those matches taking place in 2025 and it would be a surprise if this Qualifier can extend his stay in New York City beyond this weekend.
He has nothing to lose and all of the pressure is on Alex Michelsen, but the latter should also have the edge in experience and can reach a hard court level that proves to be beyond the reach of Federico Cina in the First Round at this final Grand Slam of the season.
Prediction
Look for the higher Ranked player and home favourite to come through in impressive fashion when all is said and done.
The Pick :
Alex Michelsen 3-0 Federico Cina
