Tennis

Tennis fans who stayed up deep into the night to watch Ben Shelton take aim at reigning U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz will find their lack of sleep to be well worthwhile.

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Shelton dethroned Alcaraz in a five-set match that included two tiebreakers, going right down to the wire with a fifth-set tiebreaker to determine who would face Frances Tiafoe in the semifinals.

By knocking out Alcaraz, who won the U.S. Open in 2022 as well, the 23-year-old Shelton guaranteed there will be an American in the finals at a tournament not won by an American since 2003.

Here’s where the Shelton-Alcaraz marathon ranks among the longest in U.S. Open history.

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Latest US Open finishes in history

Shelton and Alcaraz wrapped up at 3:33 a.m. ET, making the match the latest in U.S. Open history by a healthy margin. The previous record was 2:50 a.m. ET, which was the end point of an epic quarterfinal match between Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2022.

Before 2022, the record was 2:26 a.m. ET, shared by three different matches over the years. Shelton and Alcaraz beat that by more than an hour on Tuesday into Wednesday.

Here’s more to know about the length of the duel.

MORE: Longest matches in Grand Slam history

How long did the Ben Shelton-Carlos Alcaraz match last?

Shelton and Alcaraz battled for four hours and 28 minutes. While that’s a marathon of a match, it isn’t close to the record of 5:26 set by Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang in 1992. In fact, Alcaraz himself has been a part of a longer match at the U.S. Open, as his battle with Sinner in 2022 lasted 5:05.

Had Alcaraz and Shelton lasted 4:55, the match would have made it to 4 a.m. ET. Instead, it ended mercifully at 3:33 a.m. ET, with Shelton the victor in front of a home crowd.

Here’s more to know about the length of the duel.

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What time did the Ben Shelton-Carlos Alcaraz match start?

Shelton and Alcaraz got started at 11:05 p.m. ET, so it was destined to last well beyond midnight even if it wrapped up fairly quickly.

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With Shelton riding the energy from the crowd, however, it turned out to be his moment to give Alcaraz a massive challenge and pull off the upset for the biggest win of his young career.

Why did the Ben Shelton-Carlos Alcaraz match start so late?

The Shelton-Alcaraz match was originally scheduled for 9:25 p.m., but the quarterfinal between Frances Tiafoe and Alex Michelsen went a full five sets, which delayed the start time of a women’s quarterfinal match between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro that also went the distance with three sets.

That perfect storm of action delayed Shelton and Alcaraz all the way until a few minutes past 11 p.m., and the first ball wasn’t hit until 11:05 p.m.

Wimbledon has an 11pm curfew.

The latest a Wimbledon match ended was Andy Murray-Marcos Baghdatis in 2012. It was 11:02 p.m. local.

Alcaraz-Shelton last night BEGAN at 11:05 pm local time.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 9, 2026

Because of how late it ran — and started — many fans weren’t able to stay up to watch it all unfold.

Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz while everyone is asleep pic.twitter.com/2OZj1Mg7Br

— Colonel Nicholson (@ColNicholson) September 9, 2026

I love Ben Shelton more than sleep

— Ben Chase (@BenGChase) September 9, 2026

Here are the best moments from the match.

Ben Shelton-Carlos Alcaraz highlights

Fans could tell early on that the match had the chance to be special:

This. Point!

And it’s only the first set! pic.twitter.com/7H6gIajlyR

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2026

What a way for Carlos to win the first set.

This match is 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rm7B7WFlqt

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2026

HOW!?

This match is from another dimension! pic.twitter.com/GVedyHxdy2

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2026

A dominant fourth set for Alcaraz gave way to a tense fifth set:

The accuracy 🎯

Carlos finds the line as the tension builds in the fifth. pic.twitter.com/LwtSZfJKAt

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2026

Here’s the moment it finally ended for Shelton:

Ben Shelton scores the biggest win of his career and a spot in the US Open semifinals! pic.twitter.com/2PCndRLcpL

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— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2026