Ben Shelton beats Frances Tiafoe and will play Alexander Zverev for the U.S. Open title

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Ben Shelton reacts during the second set during the men's singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships against Frances Tiafoe in New York on September 11, 2026 | Photo Credit: AP

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.