Shelton, Tiafoe Make Historic US Open Semifinal

Ben Shelton stunned defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) in a four-hour, 28-minute quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish in US Open history. Shelton recorded his first victory over Alcaraz and his first win against a top-three player with a 146-mph ace, ending the Spaniard’s 18-match Grand Slam winning streak. Frances Tiafoe also reached the semifinals by rallying from two sets down to defeat fellow American Alex Michelsen in a fifth-set super tiebreak. Shelton and Tiafoe will meet in an all-American semifinal, the first US Open men’s Grand Slam semifinal between two Black American players in the Open era, guaranteeing a U.S. finalist. The winner will have a chance to become the first American man to win the tournament since Andy Roddick in 2003 and the first Black American man to reach the US Open final since Arthur Ashe. In the women’s draw, Emma Navarro and third-seeded Jessica Pegula set up the first all-American US Open women’s singles quarterfinal since 2015, while two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka reached her sixth consecutive semifinal by defeating Linda Noskova in a third-set match tiebreak.