(VIDEO) Ben Shelton Beats Frances Tiafoe to Reach First US Open Final, One Win From Historic Title Sunday

Ben Shelton outlasted fellow American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 on Friday night to reach his first career Grand Slam final, putting the 23-year-old within one victory of becoming the first American man to win a major singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.

The No. 8 seed’s win over No. 11 Tiafoe in front of a capacity crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium came on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, adding an emotional backdrop to an already charged all-American semifinal between two close friends and longtime rivals. Shelton will face top-seeded Alexander Zverev, who beat Karen Khachanov earlier in the day, in Sunday’s final.

A back-and-forth battle between friends

Tiafoe claimed the opening set 6-4, marking the third time in his career he has taken the first set of a US Open semifinal. Once again, it wasn’t enough to get him over the hump. Shelton responded by breaking early in the second set, and though Tiafoe broke right back, Shelton settled in to take the set 6-3 and level the match.

The turning point came in the third set. With Tiafoe serving to stay in the set at 3-5, the two men played an epic 15-minute game that finally ended when Tiafoe netted a forehand, handing Shelton the break and the set 6-3. Shelton landed 82% of his first serves during that stretch, a number that helped fuel his surge through the middle of the match.

The fourth set proved just as tense. Shelton and Tiafoe traded holds deep into the set before Shelton finally broke through, closing it out 7-5. In the final game, with Tiafoe serving at 5-6, Shelton won the first three points to earn three match points. Tiafoe saved the first, but his second serve on the next point floated into the net, sending Shelton into his first Grand Slam final.

Shelton finished the match with 20 aces and 47 winners, converting five of his break-point opportunities against Tiafoe. At one point during the third set, Shelton’s serve was clocked at a stunning 158 mph, which would have set an ATP record, though it was later corrected to 144 mph.

Two friends, one shot at history

Shelton and Tiafoe — teammates on the U.S. Davis Cup squad and friends off the court — shared a long embrace at the net once the match ended. Both had arrived at Friday’s semifinal on the back of grueling five-set quarterfinal wins: Shelton upset defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a match that didn’t finish until 3:33 a.m. Wednesday, the latest conclusion in US Open history, while Tiafoe rallied from two sets down to beat fellow American Alex Michelsen in a four-hour, 38-minute marathon.

Speaking earlier in the tournament about the depth of American men’s tennis heading into this year’s Open, Tiafoe framed the run by him and Shelton as part of a broader trend rather than an isolated bright spot.

“I think U.S. tennis is in a great place,” Tiafoe said. “So whatever they’re doing aboveboard is great and continue to do so.”

He pointed to a wider group of American contenders carrying the sport forward. “But the guys, we’ve been doing pretty well,” Tiafoe said. “Someone is always going deep in majors. Fritz has been playing great for a long time, Ben and myself. We have Learner. Obviously you have Alex Michelsen, Tommy. There’s a good group of us that are playing really g—” he continued, listing off a roster of young American talent that includes Taylor Fritz, Learner Tien and Tommy Paul.

A milestone beyond the scoreline

Shelton’s win carries significance well beyond the immediate stakes of Sunday’s final. He is the first Black American man to reach a US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972, and a win over Zverev would make him the first American man to capture a Grand Slam singles title in 23 years. Shelton is already guaranteed to rise to No. 4 in the world once the tournament concludes, regardless of Sunday’s outcome.

Shelton has now reached the semifinals of a major three times — the 2023 US Open, the 2025 Australian Open and this year’s tournament — but had never previously advanced past that stage. Tiafoe, meanwhile, has now fallen in the semifinals of the US Open on multiple occasions, including a loss to Taylor Fritz at the same stage in 2024, without yet breaking through to a Grand Slam final of his own.

Looking ahead to Sunday

Zverev, the tournament’s top seed, will be playing in his first US Open final since 2020 and is looking to add to a résumé that already includes his first Grand Slam title, won at the French Open in June. Sunday’s final will mark a clash between a proven Grand Slam champion in Zverev and an American crowd favorite chasing a milestone that has eluded the country’s men’s game for more than two decades.

Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was visibly split in its loyalties Friday given the all-American matchup, is expected to fully rally behind Shelton on Sunday. The atmosphere inside the stadium during Friday’s semifinal was already heightened by a string of celebrity appearances, with Shelton noting after the match that the star power in the crowd occasionally pulled his focus mid-match.

For now, the drought remains intact — but for the first time since Roddick’s title run in 2003, an American man stands one match away from ending it on home soil at Flushing Meadows.