Shelton and Zverev Reach US Open Final

Frances Tiafoe stood at the line facing two match points, the first sent long off his own serve, the second wide. A double fault on the biggest point of the night, and Arthur Ashe Stadium erupted, because Ben Shelton had just done something he had never done before: reached a Grand Slam final.

The American won the all-American derby 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, dropping the first set before completely turning the match around. Tiafoe had a break chance as early as the third game of the opening set but failed to convert it, then broke Shelton’s serve himself in the ninth game to take the lead. In the second set, though, Tiafoe surrendered a break with two unforced errors while he was leading, and from that point the initiative stayed with the 23-year-old American.

The eighth seed then locked his serve down completely. In the fourth set, Tiafoe had one last chance, two break points early on, both missed, and Shelton then reeled off three match points in a row in the twelfth game. Tiafoe saved the first, and the second ended with the same double fault that sealed his opponent’s place in the final.

This is Shelton’s first Grand Slam final, and it comes after a run that has surprised even him. On the way there he beat both Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz for the first time in his career, two players he had never beaten before.

• I had never beaten either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Carlos Alcaraz before. Now I’ve beaten both of them for the first time - Shelton said after the semifinal, adding that he was surprised by how calm he felt in the closing stages against Tiafoe.

Against Alexander Zverev, who awaits him in the final, Shelton is 0-5, having never beaten him. Still, the run to the final lifted him from ninth to fourth in the rankings, and it is a reminder that the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title remains Andy Roddick, at this very tournament, back in 2003. More than 23 years have passed since.

Zverev reached the final by beating Karen Khachanov in three sets, his fourth straight win without dropping a set. It is a story built on a turnaround, since the German spent nearly ten hours on court across the tournament’s first two rounds and looked far from the form he now brings into the final.

• Honestly, given how the tournament started, I thought there was no point expecting anything here. And now I’m in the final, getting ready for Sunday’s match. That’s how it goes in sports, in tennis, things swing from negative to positive and back again. For me, this has been very positive - Zverev said.

This is his third straight Grand Slam final of 2026, after winning the title at Roland Garros and losing the Wimbledon final. He has played for the title in New York once before, six years ago, when he was two points from the trophy in front of empty stands because of COVID, before Dominic Thiem caught up with him in the fifth set. This time the stands will not be empty, and Zverev enters as the top seed.

The men’s final is scheduled for Sunday at 8pm Belgrade time.

As we wrote ahead of the women’s semifinals, Ribakina was also in the running for the world number one ranking, and that race is now settled. The women’s final is on Saturday at 10pm, between Arina Sabalenka and Elena Ribakina, and it will be the first US Open final of the Kazakh’s career. Ribakina got past home favorite Coco Gauff in the semifinal, while Sabalenka cruised past Jessica Pegula in straight sets and had a tougher time with Linda Noskova in the quarterfinal, where the deciding factor was a match tiebreak in the third set. She has dropped just one set at the tournament so far.

The head-to-head between the two stands at 10-7 in Sabalenka’s favor, but the most recent big meeting between them, the 2026 Australian Open final, went to Ribakina. Because of that result, Saturday’s match in New York has been billed as a rematch.

• Of course I want to go all the way. The mentality is simple. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to win - Sabalenka said ahead of the final.

What gives the match extra weight is that Ribakina becomes the new world number one starting next week, ending Sabalenka’s run at the top of the WTA rankings after 99 weeks. Regardless of who lifts the trophy in New York, the change at the top is already certain.

Two days, two finals, and both carry the same message: this year’s US Open will not have a favorite who can count on winning. Shelton is 0-5 against Zverev, but he has never before put together a run like this on the way to a final, and Sabalenka leads the head-to-head against the player who just took her world number one ranking. Saturday at 10pm and Sunday at 8pm are times worth marking on the calendar.