By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Photo credit: Jon Buckle/ROLEX
NEW YORK—Collaborators in creating Grand Slam glory, Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz showed fearless commitment to the shot-making cause.
A long night’s journey into early morning saw Shelton out-duel Alcaraz, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) in an absolutely wild US Open quarterfinal thrill ride that ended at 3:33 a.m. with a bang.
Shelton threw down an exclamation point to history.
Slashing a match-ending ace, Shelton made history ending Alcaraz’s US Open reign and becoming the first American to defeat the seven-time Grand Slam champion in a major, Alcaraz summed up the two-time Canadian Open champion’s super power simply.
“Shelton is a beast,” the former world No. 1 said.
Indeed, Big Ben went Big Beast mode at crunch time.
Alcaraz said Shelton’s stinging serve, imposing physicality and unrelenting attack took a tool on him, particularly given this US Open was his first tournament in four-and-a-half months. Shelton stormed through nine straight games in one stretch, eventually turning a 6-7, 0-1 deficit into a 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 lead.
“After the third set, physically I was really tired, but you know, I found a way to push myself up and, you know, physically giving extra,” said Alcaraz. “In the fifth set I just started to feel better and better, but you
know, I was playing against… 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, you know, I leave the court happy. I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I needed
Shelton set up an all-American blockbuster semifinal vs. good friend Frances Tiafoe, who also showed grit and guts fighting past SoCal’s Alex Michelsen in another fifth-set tiebreaker thriller.
The good news for Alcaraz: his right wrist, which had sidelined him since clay-court season, held up to the blunt-force trauma Shelton poses, the pair conjured some of the most insanely thrilling rallies you’ll see in New York and Alcaraz, despite that nine-game spiral actually lifted his level and energy dragging the match all the way to the limit.
Ultimately, Alcaraz said facing Shelton’s wrecking ball serve for four-and-a-half hours was a draining exercise.
“This time, I mean, when you are trying to fight and trying to overcome all the problems you might have physically, tired a lot,” said Alcaraz, who played his first event since withdrawing from Barcelona in April due to a right wrist injury. “And obviously when, you know, he is serving, he puts a lot of pressure on you.
“You thinking about, all right, trying to put the return in. You know, it’s an unknown if you are going to play the point or if he’s going to get a free point with the serve. I think in these moments he takes a lot of advantage with the serve. Not any excuse, but I would say this is an important weapon in those moments.”
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