Ben Shelton clinched the biggest win of his career as he defeated defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set epic stretching deep into the New York night to reach the semi-finals of the US Open.Â
The American prevailed 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-3 1-6 7-6 (10-7) over four hours and 28 minutes to reward a raucous Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd gripped until 3.33am in what was the latest-ever finish to a US Open match.
It marked Shelton's first career win over a top-three player, against which he had been 0-17 coming into the match.
Shelton will now play Frances Tiafoe in the final four after his fellow countryman's thrilling five-set victory over Alex Michelsen earlier in the evening.
"For me it's always about the people in the crowd, whether it's my coaches, team or friends and family, or the city of New York that showed up tonight until 3am with the USA chants, that's what kept me going and what got me this win," Shelton said on-court.
"It's incredible. This is the greatest sports city and greatest stadium in the world. I'm hoping my best friend and sister don't have to be at work at 6am.
"I'm so grateful, so blessed to be in front of you guys and share the court with Carlos is an absolute honour."
Shelton's victory means the United States is guaranteed representation in Sunday's men's final, with Andy Roddick the last American man to win a major title back in 2003.
It also spelled the end of Alcaraz's courageous return to the court having been out for more than four months with a wrist injury and initially been a doubt to compete in New York.
The seven-time major champion, playing his first tournament since April, was seen vomiting before the beginning of the final set, which culminated in a 10-point match-deciding tie-break.
"As I said before the tournament began, the expectation was to go there, compete... playing these kind of matches, for me being healthy," said Alcaraz. "It was close, it really was close. So I'm just a little bit disappointed, about, (not) getting the win at the end.
"But, I'm just happy, I'm just proud about myself, about how I fought. After the third set, physically I was really tired, but I found a way to push myself up, physically give an extra. In the fifth set,
"I just started to feel better and better. I was playing against one of the... he is a beast. He's an unbelievable player. Powerful. He just managed how to play really, really well in every situation, so credit to him. I leave the court happy, I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I needed."
Shelton heads into his third Grand Slam semi-final having previously reached the final four of the 2023 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open.
Having lost the opening tie-break, the 23-year-old stormed to nine straight games on his way to dominant second and third sets. Back came Alcaraz to send it to a decider, where he would win four successive points to lead 5-3 in the tie-break before inviting Shelton to turn things around.
In true Shelton fashion, he iced the game with a serve of 146mph that Alcaraz failed to tame, bringing the New York crowd to their feet.
"I remember, the last tiebreak that I played was in Paris," recalled Alcaraz. "It was an unbelievable game that I played in that moment. This time, when you are trying to fight and trying to overcome all the problems you might have - physically, tired a lot, obviously when he's serving, he puts a lot of pressure on you.
"You're thinking about, trying to put the return in, and it's unknown if you're going to play the point or he's going to get a free point with the serve. I think in these moments he takes a lot of advantage with serve, but not any excuse, but I would say it's an important weapon in these moments."
Frances Tiafoe recovered from two sets down and ‌erased a 0-3 deficit in the fifth set to beat American compatriot Alex Michelsen 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 7-6 (10-6), reaching the semi-finals for a third time.
The 11th seed ​appeared to have lost all the magic of his early campaign before claiming the momentum in the third set and clinching ​it with a forehand winner to the deafening cheers of ‌the fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Michelsen had flown under the radar in his deepest major run but ​earned respect on the biggest stage of American tennis with 21 aces, and Tiafoe cut his own celebration short to comfort the 22-year-old in an emotional ​embrace.
"I hope he gets tight," Tiafoe said of his mindset at 4-5 down in the third set. "He gave me some gifts, a couple of double faults there.
"But then I slowly started to get my rhythm there, snuck out the third set and slowly started playing better and better.
"He is a hell of a player. He should've easily won today, so shout out Alex Michelsen."
Tiafoe joined Andre Agassi as the only American men to reach three US Open semi-finals in this century and will return to the top 10 for the first time in three years in the rankings.
"Everyone was sleeping in the first couple of hours and I was asleep with you all," Tiafoe joked following his win.
"As it went along, the energy was incredible, as always. Thank you [to the crowd] for being there for me. I really appreciate that."
Your Site Tennis' Laura Robson:
"You can't help but feel sorry for Alex Michelsen considering how close he was and we all know Frances is a fan favourite in this situation.
"The tears started coming from Michelsen. It was like a punch in the gut for me and I don't even know him.
"Having been in these situations when you're so close to the finishing line and you know it's on your racket, I think that's the worst feeling. You know that you kind of did choke a little bit. That's the absolute worst.
"Brutal day for him but you have to tip your cap to Frances for turning that match around."
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