Rafael Jodar’s US Open campaign ended in disappointing fashion as the 12th seed was knocked out in the opening round by Chinese lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete. Jodar, who arrived in New York with plenty of attention around him after his rapid rise in the rankings, was completely outplayed in the match. Bu is ranked 124th in the world and was only added to the main draw as a lucky loser after Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew. He took advantage of the Spaniard’s early struggles to establish control. The first set quickly slipped away from Jodar. Bu broke serve early and continued to put pressure on his opponent from the baseline. After winning the opening set 6-2, the Chinese player showed no signs of letting up. 

The second set followed a similar pattern. Bu repeatedly found ways to put Jodar under pressure on serve and broke twice to win the second set 6-2.  After losing the first two sets, Jodar needed a dramatic turnaround, but it never happened. Bu broke again in the third set and maintained his advantage to complete a stunning 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 victory. Bu Yunchaokete was competing in the first round at a Slam for the seventh time and the third time in the US Open and had previously never won a match. He did not face a single break point on his serve throughout the match and delivered one of the biggest upsets in this tournament.

‘We are human’: Rafael Jodar reflects on painful US Open exit

Rafael Jodar reflected on his disappointing first round loss at the US Open 2026 saying that he will learn from this. The result was particularly shocking given Jodar was a huge favourite coming into this match. The 19-year-old Spaniard had risen from world No. 362 to No. 13 in just a year and was being closely watched as one of the sport’s emerging young players. The teenager entered the US Open as the 12th seed following an extraordinary climb up the rankings. Jodar made 37 unforced errors and struck only 15 winners in this match while he did not force a break point on Bu Yunchaokete serve throughout the one-hour, 48-minute match.

“I’m new on the tour. There are going to be things like this because I’m new. I just try to learn from it so it doesn’t happen again. First time can happen to anyone. We are human. Second time, it could be bad if I haven’t learned from this one.” Jodar said in his post-match press conference.

After picking up a massive win, Bu said, “I’m a ​really lucky loser. After I lost in qualifying, I took a day off but I saw a ​few guys pull out, so I took the decision to come back and tried to do some work in case I ⁠could play. Yesterday, ​they told me I could. When I heard that, I was super excited.” The 24-year-old, who currently is ranked 124 has won two ATP Challenger titles in 2026, with his win against Jodar his first tour-level victory of the year. The Chinese star will next meet Fabian Marozsan or Michael Zheng.