ESPN News Services September 6, 2023, 12:46 AM ET4 minutes read
NEW YORK – Ben Shelton is only 20 years old and still new to the whole professional tennis thing. He has a tremendously good serve, but don’t think he can’t come through in other ways when it matters most.
On a sultry evening in which he hit 14 aces but also 11 double faults, Shelton used a quick return to save a set point in the deciding tiebreaker and reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by beating Frances Tiafoe at the US Open 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 in a back and forth contest in which both scored great goals.
“Sometimes you have to turn off your brain, close your eyes and just swing,” Shelton said of his forehand return winner after an 83 mph second serve that prevented Tiafoe from taking a two-sets-to-one lead. “Some people might say ‘clutch,’ but I don’t know all that.”
Tiafoe’s opinion?
“An incredible return from back then,” he admitted. “Come on. This is outrageous stuff.”
Two misses from Tiafoe later and that set belonged to Shelton.
Shelton broke off at the start of the fourth period and never looked back.
“At the end of that third set I really had to dig deep,” said Shelton, the youngest man from the United States to reach the US Open semifinals since Michael Chang was 20 in 1992.
The duel, which began Tuesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium and ended after midnight Wednesday, was the first major quarterfinal between two African-American men in the Open era, which dates back to 1968.
“It’s great to have two people of color there. Obviously a historic moment,” Tiafoe said. “But at the end of the day, once you’re out there, you just want to win.”
It was also the first US Open quarterfinal since 2005 between two men from the host country, which has not won a men’s singles Slam trophy since Andy Roddick’s victory at Flushing Meadows two years earlier.
The crowd seemed to have a hard time deciding who to cheer for, crowding both players at various points in the often-even match.
Shelton will face Novak Djokovic on Friday for a place in the final. Djokovic reached his record-breaking 47th Grand Slam semifinal, breaking the tie with Roger Federer by defeating Taylor Fritz 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
When asked if he knew who he would play next, Shelton smiled and said knowingly, “He won maybe 23 of them?” Something like that?” – refers to Djokovic’s total number of major championships. “It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Both the unseeded Shelton and No. 10 seed Tiafoe, a 25-year-old from Maryland who was a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows a year ago, wore sleeveless muscle shirts. Shelton’s was mostly black with fuchsia on the left side; Tiafoes was green with a mix of colors on the front that Coco Gauff described as “confetti.”
Both were drenched in sweat the entire time because even though the temperature had dropped from 90 degrees in the afternoon to about 82 degrees at night, the humidity rose to 70%.
“It was hot in here tonight, wasn’t it, guys?” Shelton then asked the audience. “I feel like I forgot everything tonight. Emotional struggle.”
“As I’m on my way to get my towel in the fourth set, I’m thinking to myself, and it’s like, ‘This is the greatest moment of my life on the tennis court, and I’m in a lot of physical pain. ‘” Shelton later described in his postgame press conference. “But I love it. I think that was just the story today.”
Both players hit the ball hard. But Shelton was the one who elicited “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd, with his super-powerful left forehands that reached more than 100 miles per hour and his serves that flew even faster. A 138 mph ace – he reached 149 mph twice in a fourth-round win over another American, No. 14 Tommy Paul – elicited a loud reaction from the crowd as well as a “Yes!” from the excited Shelton himself.
It was Tiafoe, the more experienced player, whose game was full of mistakes at the beginning. Here a double fault, there a botched volley over the shoulder that bounced far in front of the net.
Ben Shelton celebrates after match point by pantomiming holding a phone before hanging up.Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports
Maybe Tiafoe just wasn’t used to being the favorite at this stage of a Slam.
“It’s a completely different place. Obviously Ben really wanted to win. Ben came out and played with a lot of energy,” Tiafoe said. “Of course often [when] I play late in tournaments, I was the underdog, so I just go out and play. A bit like Ben did – play and swing and do whatever you want.”
As Tiafoe hit a long forehand to score the first break of the game, Shelton screamed and looked over to his box where his father – former pro Bryan, who coached Ben to NCAA team and individual titles at the University of Florida and training him on tour now – jumped up.
A 127 mph serve winner through Shelton’s racket ended the first set, and he stared at his box again and held the pose for several seconds.
Shelton celebrated winning the third set by leaning over, pointing to his ear, asking fans for more noise and then tapping his chest as he walked to the sideline. He soon managed to get going in the fourth set. In total he won seven service games from Tiafoe.
And when the match ended, Shelton pretended to hold a phone with his hand and mimed a conversation before hanging up.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.