Ben Shelton is into his first Grand Slam final after beating Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 in an all-American US Open semi-final that ran into the early hours of Saturday morning at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Shelton Tiafoe semi-final carried history before the first point was played: it was the first Grand Slam semi-final between two Black American men, and it guaranteed an American man a place in Sunday’s final regardless of the result.
How it played out
Tiafoe took the first set 4-6, and for a set the match looked like it might go his way. Shelton reset and took the next two sets 6-3, 6-3, before closing out a tighter fourth set 7-5 to seal the match. Behind the scoreline, Shelton’s serve did the heavy lifting: 20 aces against just 3 double faults, with 75% of his first serves finding the box. Tiafoe, by contrast, landed only 57% of his first serves, a gap that shows up in a four-set result decided as much by serve percentage as by rallies.
What it means
Shelton’s win sends him into his first career Grand Slam final. It also makes him the first Black American man to reach the US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972, a piece of history that sits alongside the tournament’s broader storyline: no American man has won the US Open since Andy Roddick in 2003, and that wait ends on Sunday no matter what happens, because both Friday’s semi-finalists were American.
Shelton’s ranking tells its own story. He entered the tournament at world No. 9, and this run has lifted his live ranking as high as No. 5, matching the career-high he set earlier this season. For Tiafoe, the tournament ends at the semi-final stage, a result that will sting given how close the match ran, but reaching a Grand Slam semi-final against this level of opposition remains a mark of a strong tournament in its own right.
Looking ahead
Shelton now faces Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final on 13 September 2026, after Zverev beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) in the earlier semi-final. The head-to-head is not in Shelton’s favour: Zverev leads 5-0, most recently winning 6-3, 7-6(6) at the ATP Finals in Turin last November. That record is one thing; a Grand Slam final with a 23-year American drought on the line is another, and Sunday will show which matters more.
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