Ben Shelton ended Carlos Alcaraz’s title reign in the latest-finishing match in US Open history, pulling out a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory in a match that ended at 3:33 a.m. Wednesday.
Alcaraz had his 18-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments ended in a match that lasted 4 hours, 28 minutes.
Shelton will play No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe, who kept coming back until he had reached his third U.S. Open semifinal, beating Alex Michelsen 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10-6) on Tuesday.
The U.S. is guaranteed to have a man in Sunday’s final as it seeks its first men’s major title since Andy Roddick in 2003.
Alcaraz had played in the previous latest finish at the U.S. Open when he outlasted Jannik Sinner in a match that finished at 2:50 a.m. in the 2022 quarterfinals en route to his first Grand Slam title at 19.
Three of the four singles quarterfinal matches went to match tiebreakers on a marathon day, which started with Aryna Sabalenka edging Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova to keep her hopes alive of a third straight U.S. Open title.
Alcaraz will have to wait for his next one.
Instead, it was Shelton reaching his third major semifinal, having gotten to the final four in the 2023 U.S. Open and 2025 Australian Open.
He seized control of the match by winning nine straight games from early in the second set until he had a 3-0 lead in the third.
But Alcaraz, in his first tournament since April after returning from a right wrist injury, battled back even as he vomited before the start of the final set.
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