Ben Shelton has spent two weeks in New York removing one obstacle after another.
Hubert Hurkacz went out. Denis Shapovalov followed. Stefanos Tsitsipas was beaten. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated at 3:33 in the morning. Then Frances Tiafoe was denied in an all-American semifinal.
There is now only Alexander Zverev between Shelton and the US Open trophy.
And that is where an extraordinary run meets an uncomfortable statistic: Shelton has never beaten Zverev.
The German has won all four of their previous meetings. None, however, came at a Grand Slam, and none came against the version of Shelton who has emerged in New York over the past fortnight.
Shelton recovered after Tiafoe landed the first blow
Tiafoe briefly threatened to stop the story before the final.
The 28-year-old took the opening set of Friday night’s semifinal, but Shelton responded and eventually won 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, reaching the first Grand Slam final of his career.
The victory also carried significance far beyond one night. Shelton became the first Black American man to reach the US Open men’s singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972, according to The Guardian’s coverage of the semifinal.
That means Shelton will play for the championship inside the stadium bearing Ashe’s name, 54 years after Ashe last reached the men’s final in New York.
The moment became personal during Shelton’s on-court interview. He spoke about his family and dedicated the victory to his late grandmother, whose son, Bryan Shelton, is Ben’s father and coach.
There was another reason the semifinal stood out. The US Open described Shelton-Tiafoe as the first major semifinal of the Open era contested by two Black men. The match had therefore guaranteed a historic finalist even before the first ball was struck.
But Shelton’s tournament had already taken a dramatic turn two nights earlier.
His quarterfinal against Alcaraz lasted four hours and 28 minutes and did not finish until 3:33 a.m., the latest ending in US Open history.
Shelton lost the opening set, then surged through nine consecutive games before eventually surviving a fifth-set tiebreak to win 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7).
He finished the match with a 146 mph ace. The victory was also his first over a Top-3 player and ended Alcaraz’s 18-match Grand Slam winning streak. The US Open described the match as a late-night five-set classic.
Afterward, Shelton called it:
“That was a war; an epic match.”
Alcaraz’s assessment of Shelton was even shorter.
“He is a beast.”
Alcaraz specifically praised Shelton’s ability to create pressure with his serve, a weapon that has repeatedly rescued the American in tight moments throughout the tournament.
That serve will matter again in the final.
But against Zverev, serving big may not be enough.
The 0-4 record Shelton must finally solve
Zverev represents a fascinating problem because Shelton has already tried to beat him under several different conditions.
It has not worked.
Their four previous meetings all came in 2025:
Munich final: Zverev won 6-2, 6-4
Stuttgart semifinal: Zverev won 7-6(8), 7-6(1)
Cincinnati quarterfinal: Zverev won 6-2, 6-2
ATP Finals: Zverev won 6-3, 7-6(6)
The pattern is particularly notable because those matches were played across clay, grass and hard courts.
But there is one important qualification: Shelton and Zverev have never played each other at a Grand Slam.
The US Open noted in its preview of Zverev’s return to the final that Shelton is now a stronger and more complete competitor than he was during those earlier meetings.
That turns Sunday’s final into a test of whether the 0-4 record reflects a genuine matchup problem or simply an earlier stage of Shelton’s development.
His route through New York suggests he has made significant progress.
Before facing Tiafoe, Shelton had already defeated Hurkacz, Shapovalov, Tsitsipas, Tallon Griekspoor and Alcaraz. Several of those opponents have spent time inside the world’s Top 10, while Alcaraz arrived as defending champion and one of the favorites to win the tournament again.
Shelton also entered the US Open in strong form after defending his Canadian Open title in Montreal without dropping a set.
According to the US Open’s semifinal statistical breakdown, he had already spent more than 15 hours on court before facing Tiafoe.
That matters because this has not been a tournament built around one upset. Shelton has repeatedly survived players with very different styles.
Zverev’s road to the final has been calmer.
The German defeated Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) in his semifinal, despite Khachanov leading 5-2 in the third-set tiebreak and holding opportunities to extend the match.
Zverev escaped and closed it in straight sets.
That composure is one reason Sunday’s matchup is so difficult for Shelton.
The German is already a Grand Slam champion and has far more experience in the closing stages of majors. He is also returning to the US Open final six years after losing the 2020 championship match to Dominic Thiem.
Shelton, by contrast, will be playing in a major final for the first time.
There is also a larger American storyline attached to the match.
No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick captured the US Open in 2003.
Shelton now has a chance to end that drought at home.
But for all the history surrounding Ashe, Roddick and the long wait for another American men’s champion, the tennis question is much simpler.
Can Shelton protect his serve, prevent Zverev from settling into long baseline exchanges and find a way to make their fifth meeting different from the first four?
Almost everybody else placed in Shelton’s path in New York has been dealt with.
Hurkacz. Shapovalov. Tsitsipas. Griekspoor. Alcaraz. Tiafoe.
One name remains.
And unlike everyone Shelton has beaten at this US Open, Alexander Zverev already knows exactly what it feels like to beat Ben Shelton.
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