After years of teasing to be tennis’ ‘next big thing’, Ben Shelton produced one of the performances of his career to dispatch Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open quarter final.
The American has previously struggled against players ranked inside the top three, having lost all 18 of his matches against the ATP Tour’s best, but he bucked a trend against Alcaraz.
Shelton toppled Alcaraz in a brilliant five-set contest, which didn’t decide a winner until after 3:30am on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Andy Roddick was incredibly impressed by what he saw from Shelton and he waxed lyrical about one of the American’s shorts more than any other.
More Ben Shelton news
Speaking on Served, Roddick said: “It felt like such a massive growth match for Ben Shelton, using that big lefty serve, running it in on his [Alcaraz’s] body at 145[MPH].”
Roddick suggested that Shelton’s serve is something that no other player on the ATP Tour can match when it is firing like it was against Alcaraz.
“That’s a superpower he has that no one else on earth has,” explained Roddick. “It, i’m smiling as I say this, sets up an all-American match with Frances Tiafoe. We will have an American playing for the US Open title.”
Roddick is the last man to win the US Open and that came all the way back in 2003. Shelton arguably has the best-ever chance since that victory 23 years ago.
He is the second highest ranked player left in the competition and he will surely be delighted that the likes of Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic are nowhere to be seen.
Shelton heads into his match against Tiafoe leading their head-to-head by three wins to one, although they haven’t played each other since the 2025 season.
He has wins against Tiafoe at the Washington Open, the Houston Open, and the even the US Open. The only worry for Shelton is his sole loss to Shelton also came at the US Open, in 2024.
Should Shelton get through to the final of the US Open for the first time, he is very likely to play Alexander Zverev for the title.
Shelton fares far worse in his head-to-head against Zverev, a player he has often struggled against, so he will need to change career history to beat the German.
He has lost all five of his meetings against Zverev in his career, including four defeats during the 2025 season alone. Only two of those losses came on a hardcourt, however, so Shelton should be confident he can at least give the world No 2 a proper match on home soil.
