In the latest finish in U.S. Open history, Ben Shelton upset Carlos Alcaraz 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(10-7) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night — or more like Monday morning since it ended at 3:33 am. After taking the court at 11:05 pm following the day’s first three singles matches that all went to a final set, Shelton and Alcaraz slugged it out for four hours and 28 minutes.
Even that wasn’t long enough to separate the two players by any considerable margin. In the fifth, both Alcaraz and Shelton held serve the entire way. In appropriate fashion, a 10-point super-tiebreaker had to decide it — and it went in Shelton’s favor after he smacked a 146 MPH ace at 9-7 to put an exclamation point on the biggest win of his career.
“That was a war,” Shelton said. “Epic match. So physical. Carlos is one of the greatest champions in our sport already at 23 years old. It’s always fun being on the court against him. It’s ridiculous some of the stuff he comes up with sometimes.
“But, yeah, the most enjoyable match that I’ve had in my career, for sure.”
Alcaraz left the court with a smile on his face, too, despite the loss. The seven-time Grand Slam champion had not played in more than four months (Barcelona in April) because of wrist injury and was in doubt to even enter the U.S. Open. As such, a quarterfinal result really cannot be considered a bad thing. And the 23-year-old Spaniard almost went even farther.
“It was close; it was close,” noted. “So I’m just not going to be disappointed about [not] getting the win at the end. I’m just happy. I’m just proud [of] myself, about how I fought. After the third set, physically I was really tired. But I found a way to push myself up and physically giving extra.
“In the fifth set I just started to feel better and better, but I was playing against one of the…he is a beast. Shelton is an unbelievable player — powerful. He just managed how 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. This is what I needed.”
Alcaraz’s exit opens the door even wider for what was already the host nation’s best chance in at least 15 years to produce a men’s singles major champion. Not since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open has an American man won a Grand Slam title. One will be in Sunday’s U.S. Open final, because Shelton will face compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the semis on Friday night.
Shelton vs. Alcaraz was preceded by a three-set battle between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro to begin the night session. Even the Pegula-Navarro match started later than scheduled following a marathon of a day session. Tiafoe’s match against Alex Michelsen required a final-set ‘breaker, as did Aryna Sabalenka vs. Linda Noskova.
It was a day — and night, and morning — at the U.S. Open that will not soon be forgotten.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.