Sept. 11, 2026Up to date Sept. 12, 2026, 12:21 a.m. ET
NEW YORK — Ben Shelton received the All-American battle towards Frances Tiafoe within the US Open semifinals, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, organising a possible breakthrough that would finish a Grand Slam drought that has lasted greater than 20 years.
Taking part in within the backdrop of the tributes and ceremonies honoring the fallen victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults 25 years in the past, the 2 gamers – Shelton, who was born in Georgia and raised in Florida, and Tiafoe, from Maryland – gave a packed and enthusiastic crowd of 24,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium what they got here to see: an entertaining, but typically sloppy match crammed with unimaginable rallies and deadly forehands.
Shelton is the primary Black American man to succeed in a US Open singles last since Ashe in 1972 and the primary Black American man to succeed in any Grand Slam singles last since MaliVai Washington in 1996 at Wimbledon.
There was no match level trademark “dialed-in” celebration this time by Shelton after he completed off Tiafoe, because the No. 11 seed double-faulted within the internet, ending the 3-hour, 17-minute duel.
“First on Foe, he’s like an enormous brother to me, to be sincere,” Shelton stated in his on-court interview after the match. “Each time we get to take this court docket collectively, Arthur Ashe, and play one another is tremendous particular. That is the place we wish to be on the finish of this match. That is each of our favourite match on this planet, favourite court docket on this planet. And to have the ability to gentle it up in entrance of you guys is the perfect feeling that there’s.”
Shelton, the No. 8 seed and the highest-ranked American, will face high seed Alexander Zverev, who beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6), within the last on Sept. 13, aiming to turn out to be the primary American male to win a Grand Slam title since Andy Roddick’s 2003 triumph at Flushing Meadows.
Shelton will attempt to break one other streak on Sunday: he has by no means crushed Zverev in 5 profession matches, together with shedding in straight units of their final assembly in November on the ATP Finals.
Each gamers have been nicely rested regardless of surviving five-set, four-hour-plus thrillers within the quarterfinals, with Shelton ending his match towards No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz at 3:33 a.m. Wednesday morning. Tiafoe rallied from two units down towards Alex Michelsen earlier within the day.
Friday’s match bought off to a rousing begin with a Shelton ace, and break possibilities have been scarce. The essential ninth sport noticed Tiafoe break Shelton’s serve, as Shelton misplaced the final three factors on two backhand errors and a double fault, after which Tiafoe put the set away along with his personal flawless service sport.
Shelton put that highly effective left-handed serve to make use of to even the match, with speeds reaching over 150 miles per hour, resulting in straightforward factors, together with 20 aces. The final sport of the third set took greater than quarter-hour to finish and at last ended with Shelton changing on his fourth try, on Tiafoe’s forehand volley that hit the web.
The 23-year-old Shelton will leap to No. 4 within the rankings, whereas Tiafoe can even earn a career-high rating of No. 8 along with his run to the semifinals.
