Shelton Tops Tiafoe, Sets Up US Open Final vs. Zverev — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Ben Shelton defeated Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinals to reach the US Open final, putting him in position to end America's 22-year wait for a men's Grand Slam champion.
- Shelton, 23, became the first Black American man to reach a US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972 and the first to reach any major final since MaliVai Washington at the 1996 Wimbledon.
- Alexander Zverev, the No. 1 seed and reigning French Open champion, beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the first semifinal and holds a 5-0 career record against left-handed Shelton heading into Sunday.
- Shelton finished with 20 aces and seized a pivotal 15-minute, 20-point final game in the third set, breaking Tiafoe's serve to take control after dropping the opening set.
- Shelton will climb to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings on Monday, the highest for a former college player since Harvard's James Blake reached No. 4 in January 2007.
- Tiafoe fell to 0-3 in US Open semifinals — both recent losses coming against fellow Americans (Taylor Fritz in 2024, Shelton on Friday) — after an exhausting quarterfinal comeback from two sets down against Alex Michelsen.
Why it matters: The U.S. hasn't had a men's Grand Slam champion in 22 years, since the 2003 US Open, and Shelton's run gives the home crowd something it hasn't seen in two decades. But Zverev's 5-0 lifetime edge over Shelton and the 11-major losing streak for former college players in finals frame Sunday as a genuine uphill battle despite the patriotic energy in New York.
Ask SkimNews
