A victory over Frances Tiafoe tonight would propel Ben Shelton into a final against Alexander Zverev at Flushing Meadows.
Zverev holds a commanding 5-0 advantage over Shelton in their five previous meetings, all of which have taken place within the last 25 months — and none of which occurred at a Grand Slam.
The German seeded defeated Shelton in back-to-back Cincinnati Open quarterfinals in 2024 and 2025. The pair also met twice at events on home soil last season, with Zverev claiming straight-set victories in the BMW Open final in Munich and the BOSS Open semifinal in Stuttgart. Their most recent encounter came during the round-robin stage of the ATP Finals, where Zverev edged the match via a second-set tiebreak to seal another straight-sets win.
Shelton has managed to win only a single set against Zverev across their entire head-to-head record.
