Ben Shelton stormed into his first Grand Slam final on a charged night in New York, outlasting close friend and compatriot Frances Tiafoe in a bruising, breathless US Open semi-final that felt bigger than tennis.
Under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, on an evening that began with a solemn tribute to the victims and families of September 11, the 23-year-old left-hander dug himself out of a one-set hole to win 4-6 6-3 6-3 7-5 and set up a title clash with Alexander Zverev.
An American man has not lifted a Grand Slam singles trophy since Andy Roddick thundered his way to the title here in 2003. Shelton is now one win away from ending a 23-year wait that has hung over US men’s tennis like a cloud.
He looked like he understood that weight, and welcomed it.
“‘Foe’ is like a big brother to me. This is where we want to be, at the tail end of this tournament,” Shelton told the crowd on court, before snapping into competitive mode. “I know what my goal is, what my job is. I’m going for it here. Let’s do this for the USA!”
Then his voice dropped, the arena falling quiet with him.
“It’s a difficult day to be out here playing. My thoughts and prayers go to all the families who were impacted by 9/11.”
Shelton rides the storm
The match itself started with Tiafoe’s swagger and Shelton’s nerves. Serving at 4-5 in the opening set, Shelton blinked first, throwing in a double fault to hand Tiafoe the chance he had been circling. The 26-year-old seized it, holding serve to close out the set and whipping the New York crowd into full voice.
Tiafoe had a plan and stuck to it: go after the Shelton backhand, drag the left-hander wide, make him defend. For a while, it worked. Shelton looked rushed, a little tight, his explosive game flickering rather than roaring.
Then came the turning point.
Serving at 3-3 in the second set with new balls, Shelton uncorked a 125 mph serve that Tiafoe could barely fend off, his racket coming up in self-preservation as he was knocked backward to the court. Shelton followed with deliveries at 144, 139 and 140 mph, a four-point announcement that the kid was done feeling his way in.
The energy in Ashe flipped. Tiafoe’s targets suddenly looked smaller. Shelton’s shoulders broadened.
From there, the eighth seed began to dictate. He broke in the fifth game of the third set, the kind of break that feels like a statement, then backed it up with a barrage of first serves and fearless baseline hitting. Tiafoe kept probing the backhand, but the door he had walked through early on slammed shut.
By the fourth set, Shelton’s left-handed serve was booming and his defence had hardened into something close to a wall. Tiafoe threw everything at him in a high-octane stretch of rallies, yet Shelton kept absorbing, counter-punching, then flipping defence into attack.
The pressure finally told late in the set. Shelton surged when it mattered, tightening the screws in the closing games and refusing to let Tiafoe breathe. On a night loaded with emotion, he wrapped up the win with the calm of a veteran, not a man chasing his first major final.
He finished with 47 winners, 20 of them aces, numbers that tell only part of the story but underline the brutality of his firepower.
Now, the American hope walks into a Sunday final with history within reach.
Zverev finds his groove
Waiting for him is Alexander Zverev, a man who has spent this season quietly building one of the most imposing Grand Slam résumés on tour.
The French Open champion dismissed Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6), a straight-sets scoreline that only hints at the tension of a match that swung on a handful of points and one lung-busting rally.
Zverev arrived in New York looking anything but a future finalist. He was dragged into five sets in each of his opening two rounds, stuck in a loop of late-night sessions and scratchy form.
“After the second round at 3am, me and my team were in the dressing room actually laughing at how bad I was playing. That sense of humour helped me,” he admitted on court. “I have improved a little bit, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the US Open final.”
He has done far more than “a little bit.” Since those early escapes, Zverev has reeled off four straight matches without dropping a set, marching into his third consecutive major final and his second title decider at Flushing Meadows, four years after losing the 2020 final to Dominic Thiem.
This fortnight, the draw has opened for him. Jannik Sinner never made it to the business end. Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic fell away. Zverev, 29, has pounced, using a kinder path and his own growing confidence to full effect.
Against Khachanov, one break was enough for the first set. When Zverev broke again at the start of the second, it looked like a routine afternoon. It wasn’t.
A double fault dragged Khachanov back into the set and the German suddenly found himself locked into a tie-break, trailing 5-3. The set flipped on a gruelling 35-shot rally that Zverev somehow won, a point that drained Khachanov and tilted the match for good.
The third set followed a similar script. Khachanov earned set points at 6-4 in the tie-break, two swings from forcing a fourth. His forehand deserted him at the worst possible moment, two errors handing Zverev a lifeline. An ace gave the German match point, and he closed at the first time of asking.
From “pointless” to a Sunday final, as he put it to reporters, Zverev has turned a faltering start into a surge.
He will not walk into a quiet arena.
A crowd, a cause, and a clash of eras
Arthur Ashe Stadium will be full and loud on Sunday, and Zverev is ready for it.
“I think it’s going to be a fantastic feeling playing a final in a sold-out Arthur Ashe and not in an empty one,” he said. “For me, a loud and energetic crowd is always great, as long as they’re fair.”
Fair or not, the building will lean red, white and blue. Shelton is the local story, the booming lefty with the college swagger and the chance to end two decades of American frustration at the majors.
Zverev is the established force. French Open champion. Three straight Slam finals. A player Sky Sports Tennis analyst Martina Navratilova insists deserves full credit for his year.
“What a year Zverev has had at the majors. It’s been outstanding stuff,” she said. “Okay, Sinner lost early at the French Open and Alcaraz didn’t play, but there are no asterisks, he still had to get through even as a favourite.
“And that has given the confidence to play better tennis after that. I think he played better at Wimbledon than he did at Roland Garros, and now he started off badly here by his own admission, but he hasn’t lost a set the last four matches. He’s cooking now.”
So is Shelton.
One man chasing a second major, another chasing a first. One trying to cement his place at the top, the other trying to kick the door down for a nation that has been waiting since 2003.
On a court that remembers its history, someone is about to write a fresh chapter.
