Ben Shelton upsets Carlos Alcaraz at US Open
Quarterfinal ends at 3:33 a.m. in tournament’s latest finish, a made-for-TV schedule collides with a 23-year American men’s Slam drought
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Ben Shelton
nbcnews.com
Carlos Alcaraz celebrates winning the fourth set.Matthew Stockman / Getty Images
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Shelton during the quarterfinal.Patrick Smith / Getty Images
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Ben Shelton upsets Carlos Alcaraz at US Open after 3:33 a.m. finish, latest-ever match end in tournament history, American men’s title drought meets a schedule built for television
Ben Shelton ended Carlos Alcaraz’s U.S. Open title defense in New York with a five-set quarterfinal that finished at 3:33 a.m., the latest end time in the tournament’s history, according to NBC News. The match lasted 4 hours and 28 minutes, and Shelton will face fellow American Francis Tiafoe in the semifinals.
Alcaraz arrived as the defending champion and the No. 2 seed, carrying an 18-match Grand Slam winning streak that had survived a season disrupted by a wrist injury, NBC reports. Shelton, seeded eighth, lost the first set in a tiebreak, then took the second and third before Alcaraz surged through the fourth set 6-1. The fifth went to a match tiebreak that Shelton won 10-7, a finish that came after a day of marathon contests at Flushing Meadows pushed the schedule deeper into the night.
The result lands in a sport that has steadily stretched prime-time tennis into the small hours, with broadcasters and stadium operators capturing late-night audiences while players absorb the cost in recovery time. NBC notes that the previous latest U.S. Open finish was 2:50 a.m., set in a 2022 quarterfinal between Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner—another match that became part of Alcaraz’s rise to his first U.S. Open title. The tournament’s incentives are visible in the record book: the longer the night runs, the more the competitive margin depends on who can serve accurately, think clearly, and move explosively when sleep would normally be doing its work.
For American tennis, Shelton’s win also creates a guaranteed U.S. finalist on Sunday, with Shelton and Tiafoe set to meet in the semifinals. NBC points out that no U.S. man has won a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open, a drought that has outlasted multiple waves of hype and multiple generations of players. A semifinal between two Americans does not end that history on its own, but it does narrow the field to one domestic contender with a clear path to the trophy.
At 3:33 a.m., the tournament had its latest finish, and the defending champion was already out.