Three Virginia tennis alums were in action this week as the 2026 U.S. Open commenced in New York City, headlined by former NCAA Singles Champion Emma Navarro advancing to the third round for the third consecutive year.
Navarro had lost three of her last four matches heading into the U.S. Open before she knocked off France’s Lois Boisson in three sets in the first round. The former Wahoo then defeated fellow American Caty McNally in three sets in the second round on Wednesday, avenging a loss to McNally in the Netherlands earlier this year.
Navarro, the 26-seed, now faces her first seeded opponent of the tournament, 7-seed Karolina Muchova, in the third round on Friday. The two have never played each other previously.
In the men’s draw, former Cavaliers Rafael Jodar and Brandon Nakashima both entered the tournament ranked in the top-20 in the world. Both players had been particularly good during the hard-court portion of the season leading up to the U.S. Open. In fact, Nakashima headed to New York with an ATP co-best of 22 hard-court wins this year, while the 19-year-old Jodar has skyrocketed up the ATP rankings from 168th at the end of 2025 to as high as 11th last month.
The successful season for the former Cavaliers didn’t translate in the Big Apple, however. After a dominant first-round win in which he lost only three games in a straight-sets victory, Nakashima faltered in the second round, losing in straight sets to unseeded fellow American Alex Michelsen. Meanwhile, Jodar managed to win just four games in a straight-sets loss to lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete of China, who had lost in final qualifying before being a late addition to the draw after another player’s withdrawal.
Earlier this summer, Jodar reached his first-ever ATP 500 final in Washington, D.C., losing to American Taylor Fritz, while Nakashima had lost to Fritz in the preceding semifinal. In the subsequent tournament, the two former Cavaliers faced off in the semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal, with Nakashima prevailing.
Shortly thereafter, in the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, Jodar advanced to the round of 16, while Nakashima went on another impressive run to the semifinals that included wins over world No. 7 Daniil Medvedev and No. 9 Taylor Fritz.
Both Jodar and Nakashima played only one season at Virginia before turning pro: Nakashima in 2018-19 and Jodar in 2024-25. Navarro stayed for two seasons, beginning with the 2020-21 season, when she was the NCAA Singles Champion as a freshman.
