Zverev defeats Shelton, wins first U.S. Open title

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Alexander Zverev capped his dominant U.S. Open campaign with the championship title, taking down Ben Shelton in the final, 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2, at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York on Sept. 13, 2026.

Playing in front of a pro-Shelton crowd, Zverev delivered one final masterclass and outplayed the hometown favorite with a clinical return game that completely neutralized the American’s kick serve.

Zverev dictated the tempo in the opening set, reading Shelton’s kick serve perfectly to score an early break and build a 3-1 advantage.

Unlike his serving performances against Frances Tiafoe and Carlos Alcaraz, Shelton faced a laser-focused Zverev, who created a blueprint for slowing down the American’s blistering bread-and-butter serve.

To accomplish the tough assignment, Zverev took a gamble by hitting Shelton’s kick serve earlier than expected, creating a flat and deep return that landed in no man’s land at will.

The sharpness of Zverev’s return game took a toll on Shelton’s third-shot preparation, forcing him to stay on the baseline and engage in a groundstroke duel with the German ace.

Zverev’s plan worked quickly and inflicted more damage after he scored another break to comfortably take the momentum-boosting 1-0 lead.

Shelton mixed things up in the following set and immediately turned the previous lopsided affair into a mano-a-mano duel.

With his kick serves not working, Shelton made up for it by attacking the net, and it paid dividends as Zverev struggled to keep up with the pace.

However, Zverev came alive in the deciding tiebreaker and banked on his masterful ball positioning to send out a barrage of down-the-line forehand winners.

Zverev limited Shelton to just two points in the decider, moving a set away from lifting the trophy, but Shelton responded with a badly needed recovery to regain his footing in the match.

The intense third-set slugfest came down to the wire, with Shelton pushed to the brink as Zverev bagged an early break to zoom to another 3-1 lead.

With his back against the wall, Shelton countered with a break, followed by three consecutive service holds to suck the life out of Zverev.

With Zverev serving at 5-6, Shelton finally had a strong return game, sweeping the first three points for a 0-40 lead en route to a third-set win to stay alive in the match.

Just when Shelton and the crowd thought he could mount another comeback after his win against Alcaraz, Zverev had enough and dropped the hammer in the fourth set with a ruthless baseline-hitting exhibition.

After losing the third set, Zverev found another gear in his arsenal and started to embarrass Shelton with a powerful groundstroke display, backstopped by a consistent serving performance.

On match point, Zverev was so focused after sending out the match-sealing serve that he didn’t even realize that the crowd was already cheering his victory.

When Zverev looked at his camp, the German star took it all in, started to celebrate, and raised both hands while laughing at his delayed championship reaction.

“I want to thank my team. We went 13 years without winning a Grand Slam title and now we won two in a span of three months,” Zverev said.

“I think God has seen how hard we worked and how much we suffered. How much pain we went through, and I think 2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before.”