Ben Shelton is one win from ending a 23-year drought for American men’s tennis.
Shelton defeated fellow American Frances Tiafoe, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, on Friday to reach his first Grand Slam final, putting the 23-year-old within one victory of becoming the first American men’s player since Andy Roddick in 2003 to win a Grand Slam title. Shelton is also the first Black American man to reach a US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972 and the first Black American man to reach a Grand Slam final since MaliVai Washington at Wimbledon in 1996.
“It’s not easy, playing here on Arthur Ashe,” Shelton said during his post match interview. “You’re playing in front of all your favorite athletes and movie stars. So to be able to keep your head down and focus for over three hours is not an easy task. I keep looking up at the screen like, ‘Oh, shoot, Jalen Brunson’s here.’”
Tiafoe won the first set over Shelton but momentum for the rest of the 3-hour, 17-minute match was mostly on Shelton’s side thanks to powerful serving and composed return play. Shelton took control of the match, winning both the second and third sets 6-3. In the third set, Shelton won a 15-minute, 20-point long game to break Tiafoe and from that point, it seemed like Tiafoe couldn’t muster a second straight comeback victory after battling back from two sets down in the quarterfinals.
Tiafoe’s second serve became a major liability especially as the match wore on. After winning 69% of his second-serve points in the opening set, that plummeted to just 38% for the match. Despite battling back to level the fourth set at 5-5, Tiafoe couldn’t hang on and Shelton held firm down the stretch to close out the match at 7-5.
As was the case in his win over defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, Shelton’s serve continued to be a cornerstone of his game finishing the match with 20 aces compared to Tiafoe’s three aces. But perhaps more importantly, what Shelton has demonstrated throughout this year’s run is that he possesses the mental toughness to absorb momentum swings and win physically demanding rallies that often decide matches.
Shelton will face No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev, who won his first Grand Slam title at this year’s French Open, on Sunday. Shelton is 0-5 against 29-year-old Zverev, with all five of their previous meetings taking place in 2024 and 2025.
Road to the Final for Shelton (No. 8)
R1: def. Tallon Griekspoor, 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
R2: def. Hubert Hurkacz, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5
R3: def. Denis Shapovalov, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4
R4: def. Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
QF: def. No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7)
SF: def. No. 11 Frances Tiafoe, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5
Road to the Final for Zverev (No. 1)
R1: def. Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-4
R2: def. Quentin Halys, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3
R3: def. No. 25 Alejandro Tabilo, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
R4: def. No. 21 Luciano Darderi, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
QF: def. Botic van de Zandschulp, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1
SF: def. Karen Khachanov, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6)
