US Open 2026: And then there were two…

‘Dramatic improvement’ for Sascha

Six years after losing the US Open final from a two-sets-to-love advantage, Zverev is back in the championship match in New York, thanks to a 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) victory over Karen Khachanov.

The first German man in history to reach multiple US Open finals, Zverev has backed up his maiden Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros in June by reaching a third consecutive trophy decider at the majors.

The 29-year-old leads the tour in overall match wins (52) and Grand Slam wins (24) this season and is through to the sixth major final of his career.

Zverev now ties Daniil Medvedev with the fourth-most Slam finals reached among active players on the ATP Tour, behind Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, and is the seventh man this century to reach three straight finals at this level.

“Straight-set win, but anything but straightforward in a way. He played incredibly well. Fought incredibly well,” said Zverev.

“Second and third set I think it's more than obvious that they could have gone both ways. I just played a few points better here and there, and I'm happy with the win.”

The world No.2 came back from 3-5 down in the second-set tiebreak, and 2-5 down in the third-set tiebreak before he finally got the job done against Khachanov in just under three hours.

He fired 38 winners, including 15 aces, and ended up winning just three more points than his opponent across the match.

Zverev had a sluggish start to the fortnight, battling through five-setters in his opening two rounds against Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys, but he hasn’t dropped a set in his last four matches.

“I think the improvement has been quite dramatic for me. It's a great thing, because I really started off the tournament, and I was, like, well, this is pointless because I'm not going to do anything here, and here I am sitting and preparing for a Sunday final,” he explained.

“Things like that can happen in sports and tennis. In general, things can change very quickly for the positive or negative. For me, luckily, it was for the positive. Now I'm going to do everything I can to prepare for Sunday.”

For Khachanov, it was a case of missed opportunities after he found a way to return to the US Open semi-finals for the first time since 2022.

The former top-10 player, who is now down to 50 in the world, ousted three seeds (No.3 Felix Auger-Aliassime, No.14 Learner Tien, No.28 Alexander Blockx) en route to the final four but came up short against Zverev at crucial moments during the match.

“You have to look at the things in different perspectives. If I would know after not great American swing of tournaments that I would play and go deep in the US Open, I would definitely sign for that,” said Khachanov.

“But at the same time, appetite comes with the food. I acknowledge that it was a great run, great tournament, but at the same time, it's a little bit disappointing obviously because I had my chances. I had my chances in the both last two sets, and I didn't take them. So that's it. Go home.”

Khachanov will return to the top 30 in the rankings on Monday.

History for Shelton

Later on centre court, Shelton triumphed in an all-American battle, knocking out his “big brother” Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to reach a maiden Grand Slam final.

The 23-year-old followed up his impressive victory over seven-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarters with another clutch performance and now has a chance to become the first American man to win the US Open singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003.

“He’s like a big brother to me to be honest. When we get together on this court, in Arthur Ashe, it’s super special. It’s our favourite tournament in the world,” Shelton said of Tiafoe during the on-court interview.

In a clash that lasted three hours and 17 minutes, the powerful lefty fired 20 aces past Tiafoe and landed 75 percent of his first serves in.

He calmly responded to dropping the opening set and is now the first Black American man to reach a US Open singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972.

The Sheltons are no strangers to making history. Ben’s father and coach Bryan Shelton etched his name in the history books in 1991 when he became the first Black American man to win an ATP Tour title since Ashe had done so in 1978.

Ben paid tribute to his father and family as he finds himself in a position to add a new chapter to the Shelton family legacy.

“It’s a lot of emotion. My dad, my mom sacrificed a lot for me to be in this position today,” Shelton said. “My dad lost his mom earlier this year, and she’s the reason that he was able to play tennis. Without her, there’s no Ben Shelton standing here today. This one is for her.”

Shelton is the fourth man born in the 2000s to reach a Grand Slam final and has shown a level of maturity this summer that explains his great results.

“I think I was honestly shocked with how calm I was out there today, especially towards the end of the match. Calm, confident, focused. I think that that's what it takes to be in these positions and win at the highest level,” he said.

“I think it's so much mental. I don't know. It's kind of an interesting feeling. Like the last match that I won, definitely had this feeling of ecstasy, it felt like, on top of the world.

“This match I felt a lot more methodical with how I went about it, how focused I was, finishing the job the way I did and kind of being able to move on to the next and look forward to the finals.”

Locked-in Tiafoe remains hopeful

For Tiafoe, it was a heartbreaking third loss at this stage at the US Open but the Marylander has adopted a fresh mentality this season that he believes will help him bounce back and get himself in the position to win a first Grand Slam title in the future.

“I feel pretty confident I can get back to it, for sure,” said the 28-year-old, who will rise to a career-high No.8 in the world on Monday.

“I'm just happy with how I've been doing. Obviously I had a little blip, just having a little wrist thing. Outside of that, I've been showing up every week, which is something I really wanted to do and something I was happy about doing.

“I was doing my interview here last year, and it was really, really bad how I felt where I was at. It's hard, man. I'm upset, but I'm at the same time so proud of myself of where I've been.

“I was happy to even be able to play tonight. I was in a position where I definitely shouldn't have been playing tonight.

“But, you know, ultimately I want to do the thing, man. I want to be a Grand Slam champion one day and just get back to the drawing board and keep working.”