US Open tennis 2026 men’s semi-final: Frances Tiafoe v Ben Shelton – live buildup

Key events1m agoPreamblePreambleHello and welcome to Arthur Ashe Stadium for tonight’s all-American US Open men’s semi-final between Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton. For the third time in four years, the two friends and crowd favorites will meet at Flushing Meadows. Shelton won their first New York encounter, overpowering Tiafoe in four sets in the 2023 quarter-finals on his way to a breakthrough semi-final appearance at 20. Tiafoe answered 12 months later, coming from two sets to one down to win a five-set thriller in the third round. Shelton leads their overall series 3-1, including a straight-sets victory in Washington last summer.Tonight’s rubber match is considerably bigger. The winner will become the first Black American man to reach the US Open singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972 and the first to reach any grand slam singles final since MaliVai Washington at Wimbledon in 1996. He will also become only the fifth American man this century to reach the final in New York, after Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Taylor Fritz.Both men arrive after extraordinary five-set quarter-finals. Tiafoe somehow escaped Alex Michelsen after trailing by two sets, falling a break behind in the third and then going 3-0 down in the fifth. His 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory put him into his third US Open semi-final in five years, matching Agassi for the most by an American man this century.Shelton’s route was even more spectacular. The 23-year-old toppled defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7) in a late-night classic that finished at 3.33am, ending the Spaniard’s 18-match winning streak at grand slam level and securing his first victory over a top-three opponent after starting his career 0-17 against them.One American dream ends tonight and another moves into Sunday’s final against Alexander Zverev with a shot of ending the country’s 23-year wait for a men’s major champion.The first ball will not be at 7pm local time as scheduled while Ashe changes over for the separately ticketed night session. We’ll update you with an approximate start time as we hear.Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Tumaini Carayol’s lookahead to tonight’s match.