WHAT HAPPENED: The life force of every pioneering Black individual who made a lasting impact on the sport of tennis, past and present, enveloped Arthur Ashe Stadium during the historic matchup between Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe in the US Open quarterfinals on Tuesday evening.
An American, a Black American, was going to reach the semifinals of their home Grand Slam, like the man whose name graces the stadium that hosted the occasion.
Shelton, all of 20 years old, with a power game that’s quickly turning into one that is nigh unrivaled in the sport, earned that honor with 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 victory over the 10th-seeded Tiafoe.
“It was a hot one in here, wasn’t it?,” Shelton said in his on-court interview after the win. “I felt like I left it all out here tonight.”
The exquisite shot-making, powerful groundstrokes and shouts from the crowd of “Come on, Frances!” and “Let’s Go Gators!” were all present from the first ball, the beginning of the match being everything that fans could have hoped for from the two Americans.
After splitting the first two sets, the pair played a topsy-turvy third frame that featured service breaks in six of the first eight games. But the set still needed a tiebreak at its conclusion. Both possessed at least one set point, with Shelton holding two at 6-4. One point later, at 6-5 and on his serve, Shelton threw in back-to-back double faults, handing the ascendancy in the set to Tiafoe.
From there, Shelton went from having his back against the wall to coming out firing. Facing a second serve down set point, Shelton ran around his backhand and unleashed an inside-in forehand rocket that landed just inside of the junction of the sideline and baseline.
An unforced error from Tiafoe on the next point gave Shelton his third set point, and he converted as his forehand dictated the point and eventually forced Tiafoe to hit a backhand long.
Shelton urged the crowd on after the point, pointing to his ear to make sure they responded in kind.
“Sometimes, you have to shut off the brain, close your eyes and just swing,” Shelton said about the close to the tiebreak and his roped return winner to save set point.
Shelton rode the momentum from that pivotal breaker all the way to the finish line. He opened the fourth set by blasting a backhand winner to immediately break Tiafoe, then secured an insurance break at 4-2 before hitting a forehand winner in the final game to wrap up play after three hours and seven minutes.
Shelton lost just four points on serve in the final set, three of which came as he battled through deuce in the final game. He finished the match with 50 winners to just 34 errors.
WHAT IT MEANS: One year ago, Carlos Alcaraz, then 19, became the youngest player to make the US Open semifinals since Pete Sampras won the title as a 19-year-old in 1990. Of course, the Spaniard went on to win the title in Flushing Meadows.
Shelton is hoping for more of the same young-and-hungry magic that this tournament has seen for the last couple of years.
Waiting in the wings for Shelton in the semifinals is 36-year-old Novak Djokovic, the three-time US Open winner who clinched his spot in the final four with a straight-sets victory over another American, Taylor Fritz, earlier on Tuesday.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Shelton said at the prospect of facing Djokovic. “It’s been tough the last two matches, playing against Americans, but hopefully you guys can bring it for me two days from now.”
With his upset wins against 14th seed Tommy Paul and Tiafoe in consecutive matches, Shelton has clinched a Top 20 debut following the US Open.
MATCH POINT: Tiafoe was looking to join Arthur Ashe as the only Black American man to reach back-to-back semifinals at the same major. Ashe reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1968 and 1969. It took six years after the second of his repeat appearances in the semis before he finally prevailed at the All England Club in 1975.
