Taking a look at each championship contenders greatest weakness (even as we celebrate their strengths).
August 2, 2026 by Graham Gerhart in Recap
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Now that a year has past, we can look back and realize that we were spoiled by bracket play at the 2025 US Open. Upsets and emerging stars helped build narratives that lasted the entire year and added real stakes to the regular season. This year, the bracket was back to legendary teams building their mythos further. In every game of the tournament’s second day, the favorites won. As we look forward to the final, Scandal and Fury both have yet to drop a game all year, but one of them will have to on Sunday.
We may not be in uncharted territory after Saturday’s games are over, but there’s still a lot to learn. The thing about watching the same elite teams play each other again and again throughout a season and a lifetime is that the reason for watching them starts to change, too. You stop staring in awe at the impressive display of talent and athleticism, and start looking for the rough edges. You stop asking who’s the best, and you start asking where each team bleeds.
Saturday of the US Open gave us that in Aurora. We might have seen the best teams earn their spots in semis and the final, but it also exposed their weaknesses, and that’s far more interesting to drill into. So with that frame in mind, let’s dive into the action from Saturday, and what it revealed about the fatal flaw in each of the top programs.
Fury and Scandal Advance to the Final, but at What Cost?
As it always has been in the past, the best games of the women’s tournament occurred in the semifinals round on Saturday. The elite teams in the women’s division know each other so well at this point and know how to match the level of play of their opponent. They’re replaying previous games and using anticipatory analysis before the points even start.
As Rob Brazile, Boston’s coach so eloquently put it: “We know what we’re going to get from them and they know what they’re going to get from us. In most games, it just comes down to who is executing better.”
During Saturday’s semis, both Scandal and Fury knew their opponents through and through. They knew their exact matchups and exact schemes and executed them unflinchingly. Or did they? Was it really that unflinching?
US Open 2026: Favorites Dominate, With an Asterisk (Women’s Div. Day Two Recap) is only available to Ultiworld Subscribers
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