Ben Shelton wins all-American duel with Frances Tiafoe to set up US Open final with top seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday;
\nBy Raz Mirza at Flushing Meadows, New York
\nBen Shelton \u200cdefeated compatriot Frances Tiafoe in \u200can electric U.S. Open semi-final on Friday to \u200bsecure a title showdown with Alexander Zverev. On a poignant evening that began with commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of \u200bthe September 11 attacks, Shelton \u200ccame from a set down to beat Tiafoe 4-6 6-3 6-3 7-5 and move closer \u200bto ending a 23-year \u200cAmerican wait for a men’s singles Grand Slam \u200bchampion. No home male player has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick triumphed in Flushing Meadows in 2003.<\/p>\n
Shelton will now have a chance to claim his maiden Grand Slam crown. Ben Shelton – 149
\nBen Shelton – 148
\nBen Shelton – 147
\nBen Shelton – 147
\nGiovanni Mpetshi Perricard – 145
\nThiago Tirante – 145
\nAndy Roddick holds the all-time record at the US Open in 2002 at 152mph
\nThe record for the most powerful serve in history is held by Sam Groth with 163.6 mph in a Challenger event
\nEarlier, Zverev booked his place in the final with a 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6) victory against Karen Khachanov to move a step closer to a \u200csecond Grand Slam title. Shelton said: “First, ‘Foe’ is like a big brother to me. This is where we want to be, at the tail end of this tournament.<\/p>\n
“I know what my goal is, what my job is. I’m going for it here. Let’s do this for the USA! “One more thing.<\/p>\n
It’s a difficult day to be out here playing. My thoughts and prayers go to all the families who were impacted by 9\/11.”
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\nTiafoe \u2060powered ahead 5-4 \u2060when Shelton produced a double fault, before raising the \u200croof with a hold to bag the first set.<\/p>\n
Tiafoe \u200ccontinued to target his opponent’s backhand in the second set but serving with new balls at 3-3, Shelton started with a 125 mph serve – Tiafoe got his racket up almost in self-defence and ended up getting knocked backward to the court – and followed it with serves clocked at 144, 139 and 140, as he dialled up the intensity to draw \u2060level. He then broke in the \u200bfifth game of the third \u200bset to take a commanding \u200blead in the match. With his booming \u2060left-handed serve and his defence proving impenetrable in the high-octane fourth set, \u2060eighth seed Shelton heaped \u200bthe pressure on late to wrap up an emotional win and reach his first major final. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
\nThe French Open champion had been pushed to five sets in \u200beach of his opening two rounds but has now won four straight matches without dropping a set, as he reached \u200bhis third consecutive major final.<\/p>\n
The victory sent him to his second title decider at Flushing Meadows, after finishing runner-up in 2020 to Dominic \u200bThiem. “After the second round at 3am, me and my team were in the dressing room actually laughing at how bad I was playing. \u200bThat sense of humour helped me,” Zverev said \u2060on court. “I have improved a little \u2060bit, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the US Open final.”
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\nThe German had played all his previous matches during the night sessions, existing in a perpetual loop of darkness and midnight finishes. The 29-year-old has capitalised on the absence of Jannik Sinner and defeats for Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, as well as a kind draw, to reach a third consecutive Grand Slam final.<\/p>\n
“I really started off the tournament, and I \u200bwas like, ‘Well, this is pointless because I’m not going to do anything here,’ and here I am sitting and preparing for a Sunday final,” Zverev \u200btold reporters. A solitary break was all Zverev needed to pinch a tight first set from his opponent and when he broke again at start of the second, a routine afternoon looked on the cards. However, a double fault allowed Khachanov back on serve and instead Zverev became embroiled in a tie-break, at one point trailing 5-3 and only winning it after a lung-busting 35-shot rally. The third set went the same way and Khachanov had set points at 6-4, but two wayward forehands and a Zverev ace gave him match point which he took at the first attempt.<\/p>\n
Rather than fearing a partisan crowd on Sunday, Zverev said he was looking forward to it. “I think it’s going to be a fantastic \u200bfeeling playing, you know, a final in a sold-out Arthur Ashe \u200band not in an empty one,” he said. “For me, a loud and energetic crowd is always great, as long as \u200cthey’re fair.”
\nSky Sports Tennis’ Martina Navratilova:
\n“What a year Zverev has had at the majors. It’s been outstanding stuff.<\/p>\n
“Okay, Sinner lost early at the French Open and Alcaraz didn’t play, but there are no asterisks, he still had to get through even as a favourite. “And that has given the confidence to play better tennis after that. I think he played better at Wimbledon than he did at Roland Garros, and now he started off badly here by his own admission, but he hasn’t lost a set the last four matches. The US Open is live on Sky Sports from August 30.<\/p>\n
Stream tennis with no contract on NOW and the Sky Sports App. You can also watch the Laver Cup at The O2 in London from 25-27 September live on Sky Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ben Shelton wins all-American duel with Frances Tiafoe to set up US Open final with top seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday; By Raz Mirza at Flushing Meadows, New York Ben Shelton \u200cdefeated compatriot Frances Tiafoe\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}