Alexander Zverev defeated Ben Shelton in the US Open men's singles final on September 13. The tournament's official report recorded a 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 result at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Shelton, 23, was playing his first major singles final. His appearance gave American fans a home player in the championship match, but the title remained out of reach. The official report traced the American men's major-title drought to Andy Roddick's 2003 US Open victory.
The match in the score
- Zverev won the opening set 6-3.
- The second went to a tiebreak, which Zverev took 7-2.
- Shelton won the third set 7-5 to extend the match.
- Zverev closed the fourth 6-2.
Shelton recovered from two sets behind to force a fourth, but never drew level in sets won.
Shelton's former college, the University of Florida, also published a same-day account of his runner-up finish. Its report placed the result within his route from college tennis to the professional tour.
The 7-6(2) notation in the second set contains two scores: seven games to six in the set, and a 7-2 tiebreak. The third set ended 7-5 without that tiebreak notation. The official tournament report says Shelton was broken to begin the fourth and never recovered.
Across the four sets, Zverev won 24 games and Shelton won 18, calculated from the published score. The six-game margin includes Shelton's third-set recovery after losing the second-set tiebreak.
Correction, October 25, 2026: The set scores total 24 games for Zverev and 18 for Shelton, a margin of six games. An earlier version gave 25 and seven.
