Shelton, Tiafoe Win Five Set Thrillers To Set Up All-American U.S. Open Semifinal
Tuesday at the U.S. Open produced one of the most memorable days of tennis in recent memory with all four quarterfinals, two men’s singles and two women’s singles, going the distance.
The nightcap featured eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton taking on defending champion and second-seed Carlos Alcaraz. The match was highly anticipated coming in, and did not disappoint as the two players battled past 3:30 a.m. in New York in the latest finish in U.S. Open history.
“I mean, it’s incredible,” said Shelton afterwards. “I always say this is the greatest sports city in the world, the greatest stadium in the world.”
Shelton secured arguably the biggest win of his career as he knocked out Alcaraz 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) to reach the second U.S. Open semifinal of his career. The match did not go on until after 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday night, but the two players delivered an unforgettable performance for all the fans who stuck around.
After battling for nearly four hours and 30 minutes, Shelton fired a 146 MPH ace on match point to close it out, and beat Alcaraz for the first time in his career.
“I’m just so grateful and so blessed,” said Shelton. “God blessed me in so many ways to be here in front of you guys tonight. It is an absolute honor and sharing the court with Carlos is an absolute honor.”
Alcaraz added:
“In the fifth set I just started to feel better and better, but you know, I was playing against one of the–he is a beast. Shelton is an unbelievable player, powerful. He just managed to play really, really well in every situation, so credit to him. But I leave the court happy. I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I needed.”
Shelton now gets two days off to recover as he prepares for his semifinal on Friday against fellow American Frances Tiafoe, as each player will be competing for a spot in their first major final.
Tiafoe came back from two-sets-to-love down against his good friend Alex Michelsen in an all-American quarterfinal. Tiafoe was down a break in the third set and Michelsen served for the match at 5-4, only to see Tiafoe rally to win the final three sets to secure the 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(6) victory.
“Everyone was sleeping the first couple of hours. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I was asleep with y’all,” Tiafoe told the crowd. “Then, as it went along, the energy was incredible, as it always is.”
Michelsen was playing lights out tennis coming in to this match having not dropped a set en route to the quarterfinals, and it continued early on Tuesday. He won the first two sets, and stepped to the service line at 5-4 to serve for the match. That’s when the nerves kicked in, he double-faulted twice to open up the game and quickly found himself down 0-30.
Tiafoe capitalized on the dip and rattled off the next three games to steal the third set and extend the match. Even in the fifth-set, Tiafoe fell down an early break but continued to fight back.
“The moment is huge. I’ve won a lot of great matches here; I’ve lost a lot of tough matches here, as well. It feels amazing to get this done,” said Tiafoe. “And the way it happened, right? Two-sets-to-love down, him serving for it, I’m down breaks early in the fifth. There were so many times where I was down. I could have been down a double break in the third. I mean, it was crazy. It was definitely a Braveheart-type win.”
Shelton and Tiafoe now return to the U.S. Open semifinals with each seeking a spot in their first career major final. Shelton is 3-1 all-time against his compatriot.
