ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM — New York is the city that never sleeps. That’s probably a good thing, as it means there is someone around to watch the tennis.
At 3.33am, Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton finally reached a conclusion to their topsy-turvy US Open quarter-final, the American triumphing in a decisive tie-break, a fitting end to a match that lasted all of four hours and 28 minutes.
It broke the record for the latest ever finish in the history of this tournament, a record Alcaraz himself set along with Jannik Sinner when their five-setter at this same stage stopped the clock at 2.50am four years ago.
It was still 3-2 in the fifth set when Shelton and Alcaraz went past that mark, having started at after 11pm.
As Martina Navratilova put it on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Something has got to give… this is not ok and it is not normal … no other sport might start at 11 AM or 11 PM. In the same event…”
The backlog had been caused by Aryna Sabalenka vs Linda Noskova and Frances Tiafoe vs Alex Michelsen both going to final-set tie-breaks in the day session; the night session on Arthur Ashe is supposed to start at 7pm but Tiafoe did not leave the court until some time after that, with fans queuing 20-deep outside the stadium waiting to get in.
Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro then needed more than two hours and three sets to separate them, ensuring it was already 5am in Spain by the time defending champion Alcaraz got underway.
But it looked like he was heading for an early exit when American Shelton, after losing a tight first-set tie-break, rattled through the second and third set while Alcaraz, who has been out of the game for four months with a wrist injury, seemed to be fading fast.
However, the seven-time major champion rediscovered his forehand in the fourth set to force a decider in front of a diminishing but still raucous crowd, who were split between the home favourite and one of the world’s most entertaining athletes.
Alcaraz though had not played a professional match since mid-April when he arrived in New York, and appeared to vomit into his towel several times in the latter stages of the match, perhaps a sign of his lack of match fitness.
And perhaps that explained why Alcaraz produced a sloppy return of second serve at 8-7 down in the tie-break, bringing up match point for Shelton. But there was nothing the Spaniard could do about the ace he produced, in excess of 140 miles an hour, whistling past him to seal an epic match.
More to follow…