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World No. 2 and defending US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz suffered a setback in the US Open 2026 as he lost to Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The No. 8-seeded Shelton produced a stunning display to win the contest that lasted for 4 hours and 28 minutes by 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 6-7(7). The match was played till 3:33 AM in New York, which is the latest finish for a match in a major hard-court tournament. Alcaraz had returned to the action after staying on the sidelines for four months.

Earlier, the latest finish was at 2:50 AM in New York when Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner in five sets in the quarter-finals two years ago.

 

"For me, it is always about the people in the crowd. Whether it is my coaches or my team over there, all my friends and family, or even the city of New York that showed up tonight till 3 a.m. With the USA chants until the very end by the crowd, that's what got me the win tonight,” Shelton said after the win.

Notably, Shelton came into the match without a victory against top three players from 17 fixtures. Also, Alcaraz had beaten the US players in three previous meetings.

 

The intensity was high from the start, and the opening set went to the tiebreak. The Spaniard then kept his nerves in the tiebreak and won the first set, getting to a solid start.

After losing the first set, Shelton bounced back, winning the next two sets. He got the momentum in the second set, breaking the opponent's serve and winning it 6-3. The US player then continued the momentum and won the set 6-1. He was now ahead in the match, and it seemed that Alcaraz might lose the match in four sets. However, Alcaraz didn't give up and scripted a comeback, winning the fourth set by 6-1. The match now boiled down to the deciding set. The fifth set went to a tiebreak, with both players firing on all cylinders. The set went into tie-break and Shelton carved out a win to emerge triumphant.

 

In the other quarterfinal, Frances Tiafoe made an epic comeback after going two sets down to book a semifinal clash. He beat American Alex Michelsen in the first men's quarterfinal by 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(6) in a contest that lasted four hours and 38 minutes.

“It's tennis, man. You see a little opening window; you see turning points. One point and, all of a sudden, you're, four hours later, in a battle just because of one point. Tennis is a unique sport like that," Tiafoe said, as quoted by the US Open.

This will be the third occasion when two USA players will meet in the semifinal of the US Open men's singles. Also, the host country has been waiting for the US Open champion in men's singles since 2003, when Andy Roddick won the silverware.