Big-hitting Ben Shelton blasted his way past Frances Tiafoe 6-2 3-6 7-6(7) 6-2 and into the U.S. Open semi-finals on Tuesday in an all-American match up that lived up to its blockbuster billing.
With the victory the 20-year-old Shelton becomes the youngest American to reach the U.S. Open last four since Michael Chang in 1992, setting up a meeting with one of the greats of the game – 23 times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic.
There are not too many sporting events in New York that create more buzz than an all-American clash under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights at the business end of the season’s final Grand Slam.
The atmosphere during a night session is always electric but it was dialled up a few notches for Tiafoe and Shelton, the contest the first in 15 years two feature two Black American men battling on the world’s largest tennis venue.
James Blake and Donald Young met on Ashe in the opening round of the 2008 U.S. Open but the stakes were considerably higher on Tuesday, with the winner moving on to face Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final and the opportunity to end a 20-year U.S. Open title drought.
The 10th seeded Tiafoe, who electrified the home crowd with a run to the semi-finals last year, had dropped only one set en route to the quarter-finals but it did not take long for Shelton to take a second.
Shelton came out guns blazing, with his groundstrokes struck with such venom they drew gasps from the capacity crowd.
After holding his first two serves Tiafoe had no answers for his opponent’s explosive forehand as Shelton claimed five straight games to snatch opening set.
But there was no panic from Tiafoe as he got to grips with Shelton’s big swings, which started to miss the mark.
He would get his first break chances of the match in the sixth game of the second and levelled at a set apiece.
In a wild third set the momentum seemed to swing on every serve with six breaks, three from each player, in the first eight games.
The set would go to a tie-break that was just as unpredictable with Shelton taking back-to-back double faults, including one on set point, before finally winning it 9-7.
There was no mistaking where the momentum was going into the fourth with Shelton hammering a backhand winner down the line that a flat-footed Tiafoe could only watch to clinch the early break.
Another break at 5-2 and Tiafoe’s fate was sealed with Shelton holding serve for the win.
Djokovic turns up heat to beat Fritz
Novak Djokovic shrugged off stifling heat and Taylor Fritz to breeze into the U.S. Open semi-finals 6-1 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday and stay on course for a fourth Flushing Meadows crown that would see him match Margaret Court’s record haul of 24 Grand Slams.
With temperatures once again nudging towards 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Djokovic turned in a cool, clinical effort, improving his record against American opposition at the U.S. Open to a perfect 12-0.
On a baking hot day, 19-year-old Coco Gauff had warmed up the Arthur Ashe crowd, blasting past Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 to become the youngest American to reach the U.S. Open semi-finals since Serena Williams in 2001.
But Fritz could not keep the party going, although the 25-year-old had his opportunities, converting only two of 12 break chances while committing 51 unforced errors, almost double his opponent’s 26.
“Very humid conditions, difficult to play for both players but that’s why we train, try to get ourselves in the best possible conditions to deliver,” said Djokovic, after booking his place in a record 47th Grand Slam semi-final, one more than Roger Federer. “Not easy, but you’ve got to fight.
“As the song went that they played here five minutes ago, you’ve got to fight for your right to party.”
Fritz had lost all seven career meetings with Djokovic and never beaten a top-10 opponent at a Grand Slam but rolled into the quarter-finals in sensational form, the only player to not drop a set and broken only once in 50 service games.
Djokovic wasted no time ending both those runs, breaking the American three times and then taking the first set with a booming ace.
Fritz finally held serve to open the second but was soon feeling the pressure again with Djokovic breaking the ninth seed a fourth time to go ahead 2-1 and close out the set in the same emphatic style with an ace.
With the crowd getting behind him, Fritz would offer up more resistance in the third but could not find a way back, with the 36-year-old Serb getting the decisive break at 5-4 and then holding serve – improving to 13-0 in U.S. Open quarter-finals.
“I had the chances in the third,” lamented Fritz. “I started playing some pretty good points… I didn’t take my chances.
“He was solid, and I didn’t perform well enough on a lot of the big points.”