Shelton Overcomes Alcaraz and Creates US Open History

Odds-on defending champion Carlos Alcaraz has been knocked out of the US Open after a dramatic five-set defeat to Ben Shelton in New York.

The match didn’t even begin until around 11pm local time after Francis Tiafoe and Alex Michelsen played out a classic of their own at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, with Tiafoe recovering from two sets down to win a final set tie-break to leave his opponent in tears.

And it was a similar ending to the titanic clash that followed.

Nothing Between the Two

The first set was on serve until game eleven, when Alcaraz secured a break that allowed him to serve for the set.

But Shelton hit back to take us to a tie-break, and after trading shots at the back of the court, an unforced error from Shelton handed Alcaraz a fourth consecutive point and a 7-6 advantage.

But the 23-year-old American responded superbly, reeling off five games in a row and breaking the Alcaraz serve three times on his way to a crushing 6-1 second set win.

The Shelton express train showed no signs of slowing in set three as he raced into a 3-0 lead that Alcaraz couldn’t recover from. Shelton survived a break point in game nine to hold serve and go two sets to one up.

A Champion’s Response

But the seven-time Grand Slam champion wasn’t done.

Alcaraz showed superb heart to force a decider, twice breaking the Shelton serve despite clearly struggling with fatigue. It felt like a four-month lay-off with a wrist injury was catching up with him as we headed into the final set.

And nothing could separate them in 12 incredible games, and we headed into our second deciding set tie-break of the night.

Alcaraz hit long to put Shelton 8-6 up in the first-to-ten showdown, and after exchanging points, the home favourite finished the job with his seventh ace to secure a historic victory, with the 3:34am finish the latest in US Open history.

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