At the 2026 United States Open, Arthur Gea of Carpentras, France has become the breakout star that not many people would have heard about. Ranked 87th in the world, Gea actually lost in qualifying 6-3, 6-1 to Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States, but got into the US Open, when three-time grand slam finalist Casper Ruud of Norway withdrew because of a back injury.
Gea is still in the tournament even though he was what the tennis community call a lucky loser. He was one of five lucky losers in the men’s singles draw at the 2026 United States Open. The other four were Yunchaokete Bu of China, Jacob Fearnley of Great Britain, Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan, and Otto Virtanen of Finland.
Among the players Gea have beaten to date are Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina in the first round (6-3, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1) , Zachary Svajda of the United States in the second round (5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2), and Michael Zheng of the United States in the third round (7-6, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2). Cerundolo made tennis headlines at the French Open, when he upset Jannik Sinner of Italy in the second round.
Speaking of upsets, Bu produced a lucky loser upset of significant proportions this past week. In the first round, he stunned the 12th seed, and rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar of Spain. The scoreline was not even remotely close as Bu won 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
Even though Gea was a lucky loser, he was heading to Flushing Meadows with momentum. That is because he had won the 2026 Los Cabos Open in Mexico last month. He defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the final, 6-3, 6-4.
Next up for Gea in the fourth round is Botic van de Zandsachulp of the Netherlands. This is their first ever meeting.
