Ben Shelton is surely on cloud nine after finally toppling Carlos Alcaraz to keep his US Open dreams alive.
Prior to their meeting in the US Open quarterfinals, Ben Shelton had not beaten Carlos Alcaraz in their three career matches and he had only ever won one set against the Spaniard.
That all changed as he beat the world No 3 in five sets to confirm a tantalising semi final match against compatriot Frances Tiafoe in New York.
Shelton has been incredibly impressive at the US Open this year and he now has his best-ever chance to win a Grand Slam, with the likes of Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, and now Alcaraz all out of the tournament.
Rennae Stubbs firmly believes Shelton can claim the major and she has revealed what she found ‘different’ about the star in his match with Alcaraz.
More Ben Shelton news
On X, the Australian Grand Slam champion said: “The look in Ben’s face in the match was different. It was a look of complete focus, almost like he knew he couldnt get to excited when he was winning or had won points.
“We are so used to his excitement all the time, it was different last night,” she continued. “Destiny? Maybe…but what a match.”
The only thing Stubbs is now worried about is Shelton’s recovery time, as he did not leave the court until nearly 4am after beating Alcaraz.
“Finishing at 3:30am is bonkers and I hope like hell Ben can recover,” said Stubbs, before defending the US Open for their scheduling of the quarter finals.
“The question is, on this one, how could it have avoided? Every match went the distance! Sadly this is tennis for you. It was arguably the greatest match day in tennis history & to the crowd that stayed until 3:30am, bravo!”
Shelton’s match with Tiafoe is set for Friday, 11th September, which means he has one more day off than he has normally been used to at Flushing Meadows.
He will surely be watching with eager eyes as the other two quarter final matches take place on Wednesday, 9th September’s order of play.
Alexander Zverev will be the heavy favourite as he takes on Botic van de Zandschulp, while Karen Khachanov takes on Alexander Blockx in one of the more unlikely Grand Slam quarter finals.
Shelton and Zverev are the top seeds left in the competition this year, so they are undoubtedly the favourites to lift the Grand Slam at this tournament. But as we’ve seen this year, anything can happen at the Flushing Meadows event.
