The Shelton vs Zverev US Open final is set for Sunday, after Ben Shelton outlasted fellow American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 in Friday night’s semifinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The No. 8 seed’s win sends him into his first Grand Slam final against top seed Alexander Zverev, who beat Karen Khachanov earlier the same day, according to ESPN. No American man has lifted a Grand Slam trophy since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open, and Shelton now stands one win from breaking that 23-year wait.
A set down, then in complete control
Tiafoe, the No. 11 seed, was the better player early. He broke Shelton’s serve late in the first set and closed it out 6-4, putting the younger American on the back foot in front of a packed Ashe crowd. Shelton had made 14 unforced errors in that opening set, and for a stretch it looked like Tiafoe’s aggressive return game and steady first serve would carry him through.
The match turned in the second set. Shelton settled into the same rhythm that had carried him past No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals – arguably the biggest win of his career, in a match that didn’t finish until after 3 a.m., the latest conclusion in tournament history. His serve got heavier, his forehand found its range, and Tiafoe’s own forehand and first-serve percentage began to slip. Tiafoe’s second-serve win rate, which sat at 69% in the first set, collapsed to 38% for the match as the pressure built.
Shelton took the second and third sets 6-3 apiece, including a marathon 12th game in the third set that ran roughly 20 points and 15 minutes before he finally broke through. Tiafoe pushed the fourth set to 5-5, unable to repeat the two-sets-down comeback that had defined his run to the semifinal, but Shelton closed it out 7-5 after three hours and 17 minutes on court. Speaking afterward, Shelton acknowledged the weight of the stage, saying simply that playing on Arthur Ashe “is not easy.” He dedicated the win to his grandmother, who he has credited with first bringing his father and current coach, Bryan Shelton, into the sport.
A semifinal that was already historic before a ball was struck
Friday’s match carried significance well beyond the scoreline. It was the first Grand Slam men’s semifinal ever contested between two Black American players, and whichever man won was guaranteed to become the first Black American man to reach the US Open final since Arthur Ashe himself in 1972. More broadly, it marked the first time a Black American man had reached any Grand Slam singles final since MaliVai Washington at Wimbledon in 1996 – a 30-year gap that made Friday’s outcome carry weight regardless of how the final itself plays out.
Shelton and Tiafoe are close friends off the court, which added another layer to a match both had spent years building toward. Their rivalry dates back to junior circuits and has produced increasingly high-stakes meetings at Flushing Meadows in recent years, but none with this much riding on it.
Zverev’s path: two tiebreaks and a scare he nearly didn’t survive
In the day’s earlier semifinal, top-seeded Alexander Zverev needed two hours and 17 minutes to see off Karen Khachanov, an unseeded, 50th-ranked player who was competing in his third career major semifinal. Zverev took the first set 6-3, but the next two both went to tiebreaks he did not fully control. He saved set points to win the second tiebreak 9-7, then recovered from a 4-1 deficit with two more Khachanov set points against him in the third, eventually closing it out 8-6. The 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) scoreline suggests a comfortable straight-sets win; the match itself was closer to the opposite.
The victory sends Zverev, who won the French Open earlier this year and was runner-up at Wimbledon to Jannik Sinner, into his third straight Grand Slam final and the sixth of his career. He is 24-2 in major matches so far this season. Asked afterward about the prospect of facing an American opponent in the final, Zverev joked, “Hopefully I cannot make the American dream come true on Sunday.”
What Sunday’s Shelton vs Zverev US Open final could turn on
Shelton and Zverev have met before, most recently at the 2025 ATP Finals, a match that exposed a specific problem for the American: he won just 10 of 54 return points against Zverev’s serve, while Zverev converted 16 of 21 points off Shelton’s second serve. Zverev’s two-handed backhand is also built to absorb the kind of heavy, high-bouncing forehand that Shelton leans on against most opponents.
But this is not the same Shelton that lost that meeting. He entered this tournament as the No. 9 player in the world and will rise to No. 4 regardless of Sunday’s result – already the best ranking of his career. His win over Alcaraz showed he can now handle the very best returners and shot-makers in the sport, areas that had been weaknesses earlier in his career. Whether that improvement extends to neutralizing a server and returner as complete as Zverev is the central question of the final.
What’s next
The Shelton vs Zverev US Open final is scheduled for Sunday, September 13, at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. A Shelton win would end the American men’s 23-year major drought and make him the first Black American man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Ashe won the US Open in 1968 and Wimbledon in 1975. A Zverev win would give him his second major title of the season and cement 2026 as the best year of his career. Either outcome closes out a tournament that has already produced one of the most historically significant semifinals in the sport’s modern era.
