Carlos Alcaraz’s US Open title defense didn’t just end. It ended at 3:33 in the morning, in the latest-finishing match this tournament has ever seen – and it ended with Alcaraz’s own record broken by the man who beat him.
Ben Shelton took down the defending champion 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(10/7) in a quarterfinal that had no interest in settling into a rhythm. Alcaraz edged a tight opening set in a tiebreak, only for Shelton to answer with a ruthless second set, dominating 6-1 behind blistering forehands and aggressive return positioning. He carried that momentum straight into the third, breaking early to go up two sets to one.
Alcaraz responded the way champions do – a clean, precise 6-1 fourth set to force a decider – but Shelton refused to let the door close, holding firm through a decider with no breaks before winning a super tiebreak 10-7.
A Record Alcaraz Set, Then Lost
The eerie symmetry here is hard to script. The previous latest finish in US Open history also involved Alcaraz – exactly two years earlier, when he saved a match point to beat Jannik Sinner in a match that ended at 2:50 a.m. This time, in an almost mirror-image late-night five-setter, Alcaraz was on the losing end, unable to repeat the escape act that had defined his tournament history at this exact hour of the morning.
Shelton Credits the Crowd for Carrying Him
Shelton didn’t hesitate when asked what got him through four hours and 28 minutes of tennis. “For me, it is always about the people in the crowd,” he said. “Whether it is my coaches or my team over there, all my friends and family, or even the city of New York that showed up tonight till 3 a.m. With the USA chants until the very end by the crowd, that’s what got me the win tonight.”
Why This Loss Cuts Deeper Than a Normal Quarterfinal Exit
Alcaraz walked into Flushing Meadows chasing his eighth major title and a shot at becoming the first man since Roger Federer to successfully defend the US Open crown. He arrived on an 18-match winning streak at majors – his best personal run ever, built on last year’s US Open title and this year’s Australian Open triumph, the win that made him the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam. This was also his first tournament back after a four-month injury layoff, and while he’d dropped only one set en route to the quarterfinal, the rust showed exactly when it mattered most against an opponent playing, in the ATP’s own words, “at the absolute peak of his powers.”
**Shelton’s Run Is Building Into Something Real**
This isn’t an isolated big win for Shelton – it’s part of a pattern. He’s now 13-2 across the entire North American hard-court swing, having already claimed his second ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal before toppling Alcaraz in New York. At 38-13 for the season, he’s reached his first US Open semifinal since 2023.
**Next Up: An All-American Semifinal With History on the Line**
Shelton now faces 11th seed Frances Tiafoe for a place in his first major final, in a matchup where Shelton holds a 3-1 head-to-head edge. Two of their four career meetings have come at this exact venue – Shelton won their 2023 quarterfinal here, Tiafoe won their 2024 third-round clash. Both men will be chasing the first Grand Slam final of their careers, in a semifinal that guarantees an American finalist regardless of who wins.