Zverev Survives Two Tiebreaks — Now Shelton Stands Between Him and a Second Major
GOATIFYAlexander Zverev is one match from turning an already huge 2026 season into something historic. The top seed beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the US Open semifinals, surviving two tense tiebreaks and a late push from an opponent who kept finding ways to make the match uncomfortable.
The scoreline looks clean. The path was not. Khachanov repeatedly pushed Zverev into pressure points, especially after the opening set, but Zverev kept producing the better sequence when each set reached its decisive moments. The reward is a Sunday final against Ben Shelton, with Zverev chasing a second Grand Slam title of the year and Shelton trying to end the long wait for an American men's major champion.
Zverev turned a straight-sets win into a test of nerve
Zverev established control early, taking the first set 6-3 and putting himself in position to make the semifinal look routine. Khachanov did not let that happen. The second set tightened into the kind of baseline battle both players expected, and the tiebreak became the first real stress test of the afternoon.
One rally stretched to 34 shots on set point. That exchange captured the shape of the match: neither player wanted to give away the middle of the court, both were willing to absorb power, and Zverev had to keep making one more ball when Khachanov raised his level. Winning that breaker gave Zverev a two-set cushion, but it did not remove the danger.
The third set produced another tiebreak, and this time Khachanov moved ahead 5-2. He had a genuine opening to force a fourth set. Zverev responded by taking the final five points, closing the match before the momentum could swing any further. For a player whose biggest Slam disappointments have often been tied to matches getting away from him after he had control, the finish mattered almost as much as the result.
The 2020 scar is still part of this US Open story
Zverev has been here before. In the 2020 US Open final, he won the first two sets against Dominic Thiem before losing in five. That defeat remained one of the defining near-misses of his career for years.
His 2026 season has changed the context. Zverev finally broke through at Roland Garros, then reached the Wimbledon final, where Jannik Sinner stopped him. After Friday's semifinal, he is 24-2 in Grand Slam matches this season and has reached three consecutive major finals. What once looked like a career defined by almost getting there now looks like a player building sustained dominance at the biggest events.
The route through New York has also tested him physically. Zverev needed five sets in each of his first two matches, then stabilized and began stacking straight-set wins. He has now won 13 consecutive sets. The semifinal pushed his total court time on the way to the final to nearly 20 hours, an enormous workload even for one of the tour's strongest endurance players.
That makes the efficiency of beating Khachanov in three sets especially valuable. Sunday will bring another high-intensity match, but Zverev avoided the extra hour or two that a fourth or fifth set could have added.
Shelton gives the final a completely different kind of pressure
Ben Shelton earned the other place in the final by beating Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. That result guarantees an American finalist in New York and gives the crowd an obvious side on Sunday.
The United States has not produced a men's Grand Slam singles champion since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003. Shelton now gets the chance to end that drought at home. For Zverev, that means the final is not just a technical matchup. It will be an atmosphere test.
Zverev has history on his side in the matchup. He has repeatedly handled Shelton's explosive game in their previous meetings, but a Grand Slam final is a different environment, and Shelton has arrived here after a breakthrough run that included removing Carlos Alcaraz from the draw. His serve, athleticism and ability to feed off Arthur Ashe Stadium can turn short stretches into major momentum swings.
Zverev's task is clear: keep points structured, protect his own serve, force Shelton to hit through him repeatedly and avoid giving the crowd extended sequences to build around. The German does not need to make Sunday's final quiet. He needs to make the loud moments short.
If he does, the season could end with two major trophies, three straight Slam finals and a very different conversation about where he sits in men's tennis. The semifinal against Khachanov did not look spectacular from start to finish, but it showed the quality that matters most this deep in a major: Zverev kept control when the match gave him several chances to lose it.
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