Zverev Enters US Open Final as 5-0 Favorite Over Shelton, Who Chases First American Men's Title Since 2003

Since Ben Shelton beat Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 in Friday's all-American semifinal, the countdown has run to Sunday's US Open men's final, where Shelton faces top seed Alexander Zverev at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The match is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET (18:00 GMT), according to Al Jazeera and Tennis Now, and will air nationally on ABC and ESPN Deportes with a replay on ESPN2. UK viewers can watch on Sky Sports Tennis, according to The Evening Standard and Yahoo Sports.

The Numbers Favor Zverev

Zverev leads the head-to-head 5-0, according to Tennis Now, and has never dropped a set to Shelton across their five meetings dating back to a 2024 Cincinnati quarterfinal. Four of those eleven sets went to tiebreakers, and Zverev won all four, per Tennis Now's data. He's also 30-14 in tiebreakers this season overall, compared to Shelton's 26-14.

Zverev, the world No. 2 and top seed, arrives having already won his first Grand Slam title at the French Open in June and reached the Wimbledon final, according to Outlook India. This is his third straight major final and second US Open final, six years after finishing runner-up in 2020, when he was two points from the title before losing to Dominic Thiem, as Tennis Now noted.

His path here wasn't clean early on. Zverev needed five sets to get past Lorenzo Sonego in the first round and five more against Quentin Halys in the second, according to Outlook India's match log. Since then he hasn't dropped a set, closing out Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) in the semifinal.

The draw also opened up in his favor. Jannik Sinner withdrew, and Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz both exited early, according to The Evening Standard and Yahoo Sports.

Shelton's History-Chasing Run

Shelton, 23 and from Florida, is into his first Grand Slam final. Along the way he beat defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set quarterfinal, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6, according to Outlook India's match record, before topping Tiafoe in the semifinal.

By reaching the final, Shelton became the first Black American man to reach the US Open men's singles final since Arthur Ashe did so in 1972, according to India Today. The Guardian frames the larger prize differently: if Shelton wins Sunday, he'd be the first Black American man to win the US Open singles title since Ashe's 1968 triumph, and just the third Black man to win any Grand Slam singles title since Yannick Noah at the 1983 French Open.

Either way, the American drought is the headline number everyone agrees on. No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick's 2003 US Open, a fact repeated by Al Jazeera, The Evening Standard, Yahoo Sports, and Outlook India alike.

Shelton has framed his tournament as a string of matchup puzzles he's solved for the first time. "I was 0-1 against Stef, 0-3 against Carlos, Foe beat me the last time we played on this court," he said, according to The Guardian, referring to Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alcaraz, and Tiafoe. "It's been a lot of uphill battle, so I think I'm fully ready for the challenge to problem-solve."

His father and coach, Bryan Shelton, told The Guardian his son has "an amazing record on Sundays" and is 7-2 in career finals. Shelton also dedicated his semifinal run to his late paternal grandmother, Regina, who died earlier this year. "My dad lost his mom earlier this year and she's the reason he was able to play tennis," Shelton said, according to The Guardian. "Without her, there's no Ben Shelton standing here today."

What's at Stake

The winner takes home $5.5 million and 2,000 ranking points; the runner-up gets $2.8 million and 1,300 points, according to Tennis Now and Outlook India.

Zverev has a tennis reason to like his chances beyond the head-to-head. His two-handed backhand is well suited to countering left-handed players like Shelton, particularly the swinging serve out wide from the ad court, according to The Guardian's analysis.

Shelton's counter is that none of the five prior meetings came at a Grand Slam, where he says his game elevates. He'll also have a loud home-crowd advantage that Zverev himself has acknowledged working against him. "I know it can change in a heartbeat in tennis," Zverev said, per The Evening Standard, bracing for a partisan Arthur Ashe crowd squarely behind the American.

Whichever way it breaks, Sunday settles a rivalry that has so far been entirely one-sided on paper and entirely untested on the sport's biggest stage.