An all-American U.S. Open semifinal is set, and the winner will be one match away from ending a drought that has lasted since Andy Roddick won the 2003 U.S.
Open. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe meet Friday at 7 p.m.
ET in Arthur Ashe Stadium, with an American man guaranteed a spot in the final.
Both players arrive with momentum and plenty of mileage from their last outings. Tiafoe authored one of the tournament’s defining moments on Tuesday, rallying from two sets down to beat 22-year-old American Alex Michelsen. Even after the comeback was complete, he paused his celebration to embrace Michelsen, who broke down in his opponent and friend’s arms.
Shelton’s road to the semifinals was just as dramatic, only much later in the night. His match with Carlos Alcaraz didn’t begin until after 11 p.m.
ET because Tiafoe-Michelsen went long and the preceding women’s match between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro also stretched the schedule. Shelton had never beaten Alcaraz before, and the Spaniard had entered the Open after a wrist injury kept him out since April.
Alcaraz still looked dangerous early, taking the first set and flashing the level that made him a serious threat. But his forehand wavered, his drop shots lost their bite, and Shelton seized control by winning the next two sets.
Alcaraz answered by taking the fourth, pushing the match into a super tiebreak in the fifth.
Shelton finished it with an ace on match point at 3:33 a.m. Wednesday, closing out a four-hour, 28-minute battle for the biggest win of his career.
Now the 23-year-old gets another shot at history, with the chance to become the first American man to win a major since Roddick. Tiafoe has the same opportunity if he can get through Shelton and then face either Alexander Zverev or Karen Khachanov in the final.
With Alcaraz gone and Jannik Sinner out of the final major of the year because of a knee issue, this feels like the clearest opening either man may ever get. Still, Zverev, this year’s French Open winner, could be waiting on the other side, so the path would hardly be easy.
The matchup itself has every ingredient for another long night. Shelton and Tiafoe have split their four meetings, and neither has truly taken control of the series.
Their two most meaningful clashes both came at the U.S. Open.
In 2024, Tiafoe beat Shelton in five sets after dropping the first two. A year earlier, Shelton got the better of Tiafoe in four after losing the opener.
Shelton also beat Tiafoe in their 2023 U.S. Open semifinal meeting.
Tiafoe brings the deeper Flushing Meadows résumé, including his memorable run past Rafael Nadal to the quarterfinals in 2022. Shelton has the semifinal experience, though, and has reached the quarterfinals or better at majors three times since that 2023 run.
He also owns two ATP Masters 1000 titles. Tiafoe, meanwhile, has already shown this summer that he can handle a big stage, reaching the final in Cincinnati after Shelton won his second straight Masters 1000 in Canada.
The crowd should be split right down the middle, and both men know how to work a stadium. Both are coming off two-day resets after Tuesday’s marathon wins, though Shelton’s later finish could give Tiafoe a little extra edge in recovery. Even so, Tiafoe will be eager to avoid the kind of slow start that nearly buried him against Michelsen.
A five-setter would not be a surprise. Tiafoe was pushed to five in his first-round match against Martin Damm, and Shelton has needed only one three-set win so far, against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round.
Both players also survived final-set super tiebreaks in their last matches, another sign that this semifinal could go deep. A 10-point tiebreak deciding a spot in the final is well within reach.
Shelton’s serve is the obvious weapon, and he showed against Alcaraz that he can adapt under pressure and make return games matter when the moment demands it. Tiafoe, though, has the experience to make this messy. He has already beaten Valentin Vacherot and upset Daniil Medvedev at this Open, and in Cincinnati he knocked off Félix Auger-Aliassime, Lorenzo Musetti and Learner Tien.
Still, Shelton gets the nod in a close one. The power is real, the adjustment against Alcaraz mattered, and the timing feels right for him. Tiafoe will make it uncomfortable, just as he always does, but Shelton looks like the player most likely to survive another grind and move on to Sunday.
In Other News...
Michelle Obama Sparked A Jessica Pegula Debate After Tough US Open Night
The US Opens semifinal round turned into a rough night for American womens tennis, with Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff both falling on the same stage. Afterward, Michelle Obama posted a supportive message on X for Gauff, and the reaction online quickly widened beyond one match result, with fans noting the absence of any similar mention for Pegula and asking why two players who had shared the same disappointment were being treated differently.
The answer may lie in something more personal than tennis politics. Obama has had a visible relationship with Gauff since 2023, which helps explain why her message landed on one player and not the other, even as the omission prompted criticism and speculation. For Pegula, it was an odd aftershock to an already difficult night, one that left an uncomfortable public comparison hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]