09/09/26 12:44:00
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09/09 12:42 CDT Late nights at the US Open add a new wild wrinkle with 3:33
a.m. finish to Shelton-Alcaraz thriller
Late nights at the US Open add a new wild wrinkle with 3:33 a.m. finish to
Shelton-Alcaraz thriller
NEW YORK (AP) --- The late-night action at the U.S. Open has now reached an
extreme.
Ben Shelton's five-set thriller to beat reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz in the
quarterfinals ended at 3:33 a.m. Wednesday, leaving few people awake to see the
4 1/2-hour marathon reach its finale on one of the sport's biggest stages. That
only added to the list of early-morning finishes that had already stirred
frustration and concerns about how organizers were managing the schedule at the
Grand Slam event with numerous matches straying well past night-owl hours.
Players have long loved the electricity of playing night matches under the
lights in the nation's biggest city. But the tournament had already set a
record with three post-2 a.m. finishes over the first six days, as well as
having two other matches go past 1 a.m.
That had included Venus Williams being subjected to the latest start in U.S.
Open history at 12:13 a.m., after it took 4 hours, 36 minutes for Novak
Djokovic to get knocked out in the first round.
"It's not ideal," Williams said at the time.
Shelton himself had a four-set second-round win against Denis Shapovalov that
ended at 2:07 a.m.
Then came Tuesday night --- well, Wednesday morning.
Shelton, a 23-year-old from Atlanta seeded No. 8, earned a massive win in his
young career to reach his third major semifinal by taking down the
second-seeded Alcaraz 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7). He closed the
fifth-set tiebreak with a 146-mph ace and ended the reigning champion's
18-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments.
It ended with Arthur Ashe Stadium perhaps one-third full at what became the
latest-finishing match in U.S. Open history.
"We're going to break the record," TV announcer John McEnroe said. "It's going
to be the latest finish in U.S. Open history, and we are here to witness it."
This one set up an all-American semifinal matchup with 11th-seeded Frances
Tiafoe, with the U.S. guaranteed to have a representative in Sunday's final as
it seeks its first major men's title since Andy Roddick won at Flushing Meadows
in 2003.
About 5 1/2 hours after the match's conclusion, the U.S. Open went to social
media with a lighthearted nod to the late night, offering a fill-in-the-blank
letter for fans to ask their bosses to be excused from work Wednesday.
"We understand how important showing up is, but sometimes you have to make time
for things you're passionate about," the post on X stated. "Carlos Alcaraz and
Ben Shelton put on an absolute stellar performance during their US Open
quarterfinal, and -_____ was a fully committed fan who was completely locked in
from start to finish."
___
See AP's full tennis coverage here
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