Carlo Alcaraz and Ben Shelton fought to the point of exhaustion in their quarterfinal match at the US Open. The two did not hold back in the 4 hours and 28 minutes of play, so much so that at a certain point Alcaraz had to stop to vomit into the towel at the end of a particularly intense exchange. It was only Alcaraz’s second fifth-set defeat in 17 matches, underlining the importance of Shelton’s victory. In this edition of the US Open Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti also suffered illnesses.
The game was played until 3:33 am
The match ended at 3.33 in the night, the longest evening session in the history of the tournament, and saw the American prevail over the defending Spanish champion in the fifth set tie-break: 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 1-6 7-6 (10-7).
For Shelton it is the second semi-final at the United States Open after the one in 2023, the third in his career after also the 2025 Australian Open. On Friday he will challenge his compatriot Frances Tiafoe, winner of another 4 hours and 38 minute marathon on the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the US derby with Alex Michelsen. The world number 12 overcame a two-set deficit to close with a final score of 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6,(6). Today the picture of the semi-finals of the US Open is completed with ‘Saschà Zverev facing the Dutch Boltic Van der Zandschulp as favourite. The other quarterfinal is between Karen Khachanov and Alexander Blockx. A bit of Italy survives at Flushing Meadows: after more than three hours of competition, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori reached the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time by coming from behind to beat the American Austin Krajicek and the Croatian Nikola Mektic 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(8), who were ahead 5-2 at the tie-break of the second set and a break at the beginning of the third.
“We play this sport for moments like this”, exulted Vavassori. On the Italian night the two Italians will compete for a place in the semi-finals against the American Christian Harrison and the British Neal Skupski.
The marathons at the US Open bring the topic of the physical effort required of the protagonists of the ATP circuit back into the spotlight. The new CEO of Tennis Australia, Andrew Abdo, anticipated that it is possible that “in the future, in Grand Slam tournaments, depending on the number of rounds or duration, the best of five sets will no longer be played for the entire tournament”.