(September 6, 2023) FLUSHING, NY – In a battle between Americans, twenty-year-old Ben Shelton beat 25-year-old Frances Tiafoe, the tenth seed 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7) to reach the semifinals of the US Open as Tuesday night became Wednesday morning in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Shelton is the youngest American to reach the semifinals of the US Open since Michael Chang in 1992.
He’ll play Novak Djokovic for a place in the final.
Ben Shelton has become only the sixth American male in the Open Era to secure 10 major match wins in a season before turning 21, after Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick.
Reaching his first career ATP semfinal, Ben Shelton is only the third player under 21 in the Open Era whose maiden ATP semi-final is at a Grand Slam, after Gustavo Kuerten and Frances Tiafoe’s coach, Wayne Ferreira.
Shelton broke Tiafoe’s serve twice to win the opening set 6-2 in 40 minutes. The 6’4” Shelton served 4 aces and was 2 for 5 on break points. Shelton won 33 points to Tiafoe’s 24.
Shelton came into the US Open a year ago ranked 165 in the world. The win puts Shelton in the Top 20 when the US Open ends.
Tiafoe finally broke Shelton’s serve in the sixth game of the 2nd set for a 4-2 lead and held on to it to level the match at 2-6, 6-3.
The third set was not an instant classic – it produced 6 total breaks of serve. It ended in a tiebreaker which Shelton won 7-6(7).
Set four saw Shelton break Tiafoe early in the set and in the seventh game and held on to win the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2.
“I thought it was super hot tonight, really muggy, super humid,” said Tiafoe. “Was sweating a lot, balls were really heavy. He was able to hit through the ball a bit more than I was. Yeah, he just played better than me. I gave him a lot of chances to stay in the match, and he took advantage of it. Hats off to him.”
“Just gonna learn from these moments,” the Maryland resident admitted. “Obviously can’t keep having these matches in slams. Some things you gotta learn from. Obviously at the end of the day, it hurts now, play a lot of matches in this game. I still want to end the year strong and try to end in the top 10. Still having a great season.
“But, you know, obviously I want to perform really well in the slams. My exits in last two slams, both matches I didn’t play very well at all. That’s tough to swallow.”
“I think tonight was a real physical battle,” Shelton said. “That was the true test. You know, you have Frances Tiafoe on the other side of the court and you have the weather that you had in there. You know, it was pretty muggy, pretty hot. 75% of the match I think both of us were finishing points fairly tired, trying to catch our breath.
“You know, end of that third set is when I really had to dig deep. You know, I had a set point at 6-5, went up to the line with heavy legs and ended up double faulting two times in a row. Got a little bit lucky with the slap shot to get back in control of the breaker. And then, you know, I was just tough the last two points.
“I think that was the key for me tonight. Just being tough and being relentless, and knowing that I could go the distance physically no matter how bad it hurt. That was just kind of what I was sticking with.”
The next test for Shelton is facing Djokovic in the semifinals:
“Yeah, I’m pretty glad I have two days off from singles,” Shelton said with a smile. “I didn’t know until a couple minutes ago. They’re like, You know you don’t play till Friday, right? That was nice to hear. Usually at the beginning of a tournament, you don’t want to play, you know, Sunday, Wednesday, and have two days off. But at this stage when players are as grooved as they are, it’s nice to have a couple days off.
“Going into the semifinals, I’m pretty pumped about the opportunity to go back out there and have the same feeling that I had today against, you know, another really tough opponent.
“I have been enjoying every minute on court, interactions with the crowds and just the tennis that’s being played. So I hope that I can bring a high level again on Friday.”
“Yeah, definitely a tough challenge. I think that whenever you play somebody for the first time and someone who has been in this situation so many times and come out victorious so many times, that’s in the back of your head. You just know how, you know, rock solid the guy is and how mentally tough, how physically tough. So that’s definitely something that I have to game-plan for.
“I also think that, you know, it’s an advantage with my game style playing someone who’s never played me before. I think that I can bring some things to the table that maybe you don’t see in your normal match that you play on the ATP Tour. So I’m definitely going to try to bring some things to the table that are different and hopefully disruptive on Friday.”
More to follow…
