A week and a half ago, few believed that top seed Alexander Zverev would reach the final at Flushing Meadows in New York. He narrowly made it to the third round after two five-set matches.
After that, the 29-year-old did not drop a single set until the final of the year's last Grand Slam tennis tournament.
And only one in the final. Zverev's first US Open title, and second Grand Slam title after this year's victory at the French Open, came after 6–3, 7–6 (7–2), 5–7, 6–2.
I think God has seen how hard we have worked, how much we have suffered, how much pain we have gone through, and I think 2026 is the result of all those years, says Zverev after the victory.
23-year-old American Ben Shelton, in his first Grand Slam final, had the support of most of the 24,000 spectators in Arthur Ashe Stadium. But his hopes of becoming the first American men's singles player to win the US Open since Andy Roddick in 2003 were dashed.
Zverev noticed the support for the American.
"I know that 99.9 percent of the audience wanted Ben to win today, so first of all I want to apologize," Zverev said after the victory.
The eighth-seeded Shelton has to be content with surprisingly knocking out the reigning champion, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, in the quarterfinals, and giving Zverev good resistance in the final.
In Zverev's first US Open final, in 2020, he lost 3–2 in sets to Dominic Thiem of Austria.
