The men’s singles championship match is on Sunday in New York.
After going 0-3 in his first three Major finals across a five-year span, Alexander Zverev has now reached his third consecutive Major final, just three months after finally capturing his first Major title. As per OptaAce, he’s only the second player since the ATP rankings system was introduced in 1973 to reach multiple Major finals without facing a top 20 player, as the draws have opened up wide for him. But on Sunday, he faces a top 10 player in Ben Shelton, a 23-year-old American playing his first Major final, at his home Slam.
Alexander Zverev (1) v. Ben Shelton (8) – 12:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Zverev is 52-13 on the year, and 23-7 on hard courts. Six years ago, during the pandemic-era version of the US Open, he came oh-so-close to winning his first Major title. Yet despite holding a two-sets-to-love lead in the final, he would lose in a final-set tiebreak to Dominic Thiem. Now in 2026, he returns to the championship match in New York.
After going to five sets in each of his first two rounds, Zverev has won his last four matches in straights. He is 25-18 in ATP finals, but only 1-4 in Major finals. This year in Paris, he defeated Flavio Cobolli in five sets to win his first Major. A month later, he lost in four sets to Jannik Sinner in the championship match at Wimbledon.
Shelton is 39-13 on the year, and 25-6 on hard courts. This summer, he’s gone 12-1 on hard courts, with a title run in Montreal. Ben played a scratchy first three rounds during this fortnight, requiring four sets in each of those matches, before dominating Stefanos Tsitsipas in straights. His quarterfinal was the most talked-about match of the tournament, as he played until 3:33am in the morning to take out Carlos Alcaraz in a fifth-set tiebreak. In Friday’s semifinals, he came from a set down to defeat fellow American Frances Tiafoe, becoming to first Black man in a US Open men’s singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972.
While this is only Shelton’s 10th career final at ATP-level, and his first at a Major, he holds a 7-2 record in finals, and has claimed his last five. That includes four titles during 2026, on three different surfaces. However, one of his two losses in finals came at the hands of Zverev, and he is 0-5 lifetime against the German.
Those five victories have also come on three different surfaces, and all of them took place within the last 25 months. Zverev has won 10 of the 11 sets they’ve contested, with Shelton not winning a set since the very first one they played. This will be their first encounter of this season, and their first at a Major.
Even though he’s now a Major champion, Zverev remains a shaky competitor on big matches. Within the last 52 weeks, as per Tennis Abstract, he is a miserable 3-13 against top 10 opposition. And even though he possesses one of the best serves on tour, it is outmatches by serving prowess of Shelton. However, while Shelton’s return game is much-improved, it’s still one of the weaker ones amongst top players.
But in front of a raucous crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium, I favor Shelton to become the first American man to win a Major singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he did so on this same court. Unlike Zverev, Shelton is a big match player, who does not shy away from big stages such as this, and usually performs his best in finals. Plus, Shelton is the player who has already survived stern tests from a pair of top 20 players, yet should still be rather fresh come Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
