Ben Shelton won the all-American duel with Frances Tiafoe and now he’s the one who can end his country’s long wait for another men’s Grand Slam champion.

Shelton pulled out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory on Friday (September 11, 2026) and will play No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday (September 13) for the U.S. Open title.

The No. 8-seeded Shelton had plenty of energy left after ousting defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a quarterfinal match that ended Wednesday (September 9) at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish ever at the U.S. Open.

Now he needs to stop French Open champion Zverev to give the host nation its first men’s major winner since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.

“I’m going for it here, and I’m going to leave it all on the court,” Shelton said. “I hope you guys come and back me. Let’s do it for the USA.” Zverev beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the first semifinal.

“Hopefully I can not make the American dream come true on Sunday (September 13),” Zverev said.

The Shelton-Tiafoe match drew a star-studded crowd that included stars from sports, including Serena Williams, Jalen Brunson and of course U.S. soccer player Trinity Rodman, Shelton’s girlfriend; and actors Salma Hayek, Ben Stiller and Rami Malek.

Shelton and Tiafoe treated the fans to a good show, after both had to come through match tiebreakers in the previous round. Shelton, a 23-year-old from Georgia who was less than a year old when Roddick won his title, advanced to his first major final.

“This is where we want to be: at the tail end of this tournament,” Shelton said. “This is both of our favourite tournaments in the world, our favourite court in the world, and to be able to light it up in front of (this crowd) is the best feeling that there is.” Tiafoe fell to 0-3 in the U.S. Open semifinals, the last two against fellow Americans. Taylor Fritz beat him in 2024 before losing to Jannik Sinner.

After a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which a giant American flag was unfurled across the court, it was Tiafoe who played the cleaner tennis in the first set. He committed just three unforced errors to 14 by Shelton, whose double-fault at 4-4 gave Tiafoe the break he needed.

But after falling behind, Shelton started serving bigger, and finished with 20 aces.

Serving with new balls at 3-all in the second set, Shelton started with a 125 mph serve — Tiafoe got his racket up almost in self-defense and ended up getting knocked backward to the court — and followed it with serves clocked at 144, 139 and 140, the last two for aces that gave him the lead for good in the set.

The pivotal moment in the match came in the final game of the third set, when Tiafoe was desperately trying to hold serve. The game lasted 15 minutes and 20 points before Tiafoe put a forehand into the net to end it and move Shelton a set away from the title.

Tiafoe had his own marathon in the quarterfinals, coming from two sets down and then erasing a 3-0 deficit in the fifth set to edge fellow American Alex Michelsen. He seemed to get slightly more cheers early, but the crowd was loud for both players as the match went on.

Zverev, who had long been considered the best men’s player without a major, finally broke through at the French Open this year. The German followed by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Sinner, and is 24-2 in Grand Slam matches this season.

“Sometimes just things go your way and I feel like I’ve had a lot of struggles at the major level, I was so close so many times, and maybe this year God has said that this is going to be your year and just enjoy the time on the court,” Zverev said.

Now he will try to win the title that he still can’t believe he let get away in 2020. Zverev won the first two sets against Dominic Thiem but then lost in a fifth-set tiebreaker, as Thiem became the first man to win the U.S. Open title after dropping the first two sets since 1949.

Zverev was solid after going up two sets this time, and has won 13 consecutive sets after becoming the first No. 1-seeded man to play five-setters in each of the first two rounds of a major.

Published – September 12, 2026 10:44 am IST

Carlos Alcaraz tumbled out of the U.S. Open quarter-finals at 3:34 a.m. Wednesday (September 9, 2026) local time, falling to Ben Shelton in an epic five-set thriller that broke the record for the latest finish ever at Flushing Meadows.

The big-hitting American claimed his first career win over Alcaraz, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7), ending the Spaniard’s hopes of retaining his title in his first tournament back after a four-month injury absence.

It took a brutal four hours and 28 minutes, finishing long past the previous latest finish in New York of 2:50 a.m., Alcaraz’s five-set quarter-final win over Jannik Sinner in 2022.

Shelton matched his semi-final run at the U.S. Open three years ago and booked an all-American semi-final against Frances Tiafoe, who came back from two sets down to beat Alex Michelsen 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10/6).

“That was a war, epic match, so physical,” Shelton said. “Carlos is one of the greatest champions in our sport already at 23 years old. It’s always fun being on the court against him. It’s ridiculous some of the stuff he comes up with sometimes; it’s the most enjoyable match that I’ve had in my career, for sure.”

Alcaraz had gone from strength to strength though his first four matches, but Shelton posed his biggest test and finally proved too much.

Shelton, pumped up by the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, reeled off nine straight games bridging the second and third sets to seize control, capitalizing on Alcaraz’s flagging serve and getting the better of him in rallies that left him winded.

Alcaraz stopped the rot, mustering a break chance as Shelton served for the third set before the American closed it out.

It was a sign that Alcaraz was far from a spent force, and he roared back to take the fouth set in just 36 minutes.

The margins in the fifth set were razor thin. Alcaraz had a break chance at 2-2, then it was Shelton’s turn at 4-3, but the match was destined to go all the way, to a 10-point match tiebreak that Shelton capped with an ace on match point.

After the first three matches of the day all went the distance, Alcaraz and Shelton didn’t get under way until after 11 p.m., and both exploded out of the gate.

Neither man faced a break point through the first 10 games, although Alcaraz came under some self-inflicted pressure with back-to-back double faults that made for a complicated hold for 4-4.

Shelton dialed in

Alcaraz put together his first love hold for 5-5 then grabbed the first break in the next game, forcing a forehand error from Shelton as the American was feeling the pressure at 0-40 down.

That left the Spaniard to serve for the set, but two errors to start the game were all the opening Shelton needed.

He broke to force the tiebreaker and seized a 5-3 lead only for Alcaraz to win the last four points and pocket the set after 61 minutes.

But Alcaraz couldn’t maintain the pace, and as his struggles on serve increased, Shelton roared away, two of his three service breaks coming courtesy of double faults from the Spaniard, including one on set point.

“I knew that my serve was only going to get better, and if I had already dialed in the return to the point that I could break him, I thought my chances were good to get that second set,” Shelton said. “Once I got rolling the second set, broke him three times in that set, it was a lot easier to just play and swing more freely.”

Published – September 09, 2026 02:25 pm IST