Zverev out to shatter American dream

Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe had a packed crowd, sprinkled with celebrities, cheering equally for them as the two fan favourites fought to reach their first major final.

The crowd figures to be almost entirely on Shelton’s side tonight because he’s now the American hope to end a lengthy Grand Slam drought.

Shelton pulled out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory on Friday and will play No 1 seed Alexander Zverev for the US Open title.

The host nation hasn’t had a men’s major winner since Andy Roddick won at Flushing Meadows in 2003.

“I’m going for it here, and I’m going to leave it all on the court,” Shelton said. “I hope you guys come and back me. Let’s do it for the USA.”

The No 8 seed Shelton had plenty of energy left after ousting defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a quarterfinal that ended at 3.33am on Wednesday, the latest finish in US Open history.

Now he needs to stop the French Open champion, who knows what’s at stake for the other side. “Hopefully I cannot make the American dream come true on Sunday,” Zverev said.

Zverev beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the first semifinal.

“This is where we want to be: at the tail end of this tournament,” said Shelton, a 23-year-old from Georgia who was less than a year old when Roddick won his title.

“This is both of our favourite tournaments in the world, our favourite court in the world, and to be able to light it up in front of [this crowd] is the best feeling there is.”

Obviously I have improved a little bit. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in the US Open final

After a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which a giant American flag was unfurled across the court, it was Tiafoe who played the cleaner tennis in the first set.

He committed just three unforced errors to 14 by Shelton, whose double-fault at 4-4 gave Tiafoe the break he needed.

The pivotal moment came in the final game of the third set, when Tiafoe was desperately trying to hold serve. The game lasted 15 minutes and 20 points before Tiafoe put a forehand into the net to end it and move Shelton a set away from the title.