Unseeded Bu Yunchaokete made history at the 2026 US Open on Wednesday. He became the first "lucky loser" to beat a top-15 seed at a tennis major in the Open Era, which began in 1968. The term "lucky loser" represents the player who lost the final qualifying match for the major but still gets added to the field because players in the draw had to withdraw. Yunchaokete replaced Thanasi Kokkinakis in the tournament and found out only on Tuesday that he would be playing the 12-seeded Rafal Jodar on Wednesday. Kokkinakis withdrew due to an ankle sprain and calf injury suffered at the Cincinnati Masters leading up to the US Open. Jodar is ranked as the No. 13 men's tennis player in the world entering the tournament, but was not able to build any momentum on Wednesday. Yunchaokete didn't just pull off the upset; he dominated. The 24-year-old allowed Jodar to win only four games in the match, advancing in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-1. Yunchaokete will now turn his attention to his second-round match, which will be against either Fabian Marozsan or Michael Zheng, both unseeded.
Yunchaokete is playing in his third-ever US Open and his seventh tennis major. Until Wednesday, he had not made it out of the first round at the event. In fact, this is the first time the 24-year-old Chinese star has won a match at a Grand Slam. He moves from 0-6 all time to now 1-6. Yunchaokete has competed at 11 ATP Masters 1000 events. He has never made it past the second round at any of those events. If Yunchaokete can pick up a second-round win at the 2026 US Open, it would likely be the biggest win of his career so far, and it all comes after he wasn't initially scheduled to participate.