NEW YORK — Alexander Zverev leads Ben Shelton 5-0 in their head-to-head series and has won 10 of the 11 sets they have played, per the ATP Tour. They meet Sunday at 1 p.m. CT on ABC in the US Open men’s singles final.
Four of Zverev’s five wins came in straight sets. The one set Shelton has taken was the opener of their first meeting, a 2024 Cincinnati Open quarterfinal Zverev won 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. Zverev also won a Stuttgart semifinal 7-6, 7-6 and the 2025 Munich final 6-2, 6-4. Their most recent meeting was a round-robin match at the 2025 Nitto ATP Finals, where Shelton won 10 of 54 return points and Zverev took 16 of 21 points played against Shelton’s second serve.
Sunday will be the first time the two have played at a major.
Zverev was asked about both Americans before the second semifinal had been played, and his scouting report on Shelton ran three sentences.
“Ben is just a big, powerful guy. Massive serve, massive ground strokes. Everything he does is just big,” Zverev said.
Ben Shelton On Problem Solving Through The Draw
Shelton is a different player with more tools, and he says he knows his identity and what it takes for him to play top-level tennis.
“I think that problem solving has been the name of the game here. It was 0-1 against Steph, 0-3 against Carlos. Foe beat me the last time we played on this court. It’s been a lot of uphill battle,” Shelton said. “And so I think that I’m fully ready for the challenge to problem solve.”
“Not that I’m gonna come out every day and everything’s gonna be perfect and clicking. But I think that’s why our sport is so difficult and the beauty of our sport. I’m looking forward to the challenge, being able to problem solve on Sunday. I know what I’m up against. And I’m also the most confident I’ve ever been in my game,” Shelton continued.
Nerves are as present in a first round as in a semifinal for Shelton, and he expects Sunday to be no different.
“I handle these big situations, or I have in my career, pretty well. I feel that confidence and belief take over,” Shelton explained. “I’m playing against the number one seed, Grand Slam final, playing against a Grand Slam champion, trying to get my first. It’s a lot of reasons that this is an enjoyable moment for me.”
Alexander Zverev’s Path To The Final
Zverev needed five sets in each of his first two rounds, beating Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (9), 7-5, 6-4 and Quentin Halys 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-3, and spent close to nine and a half hours on court doing it. He has won 13 consecutive sets since.
Against Khachanov in the semifinal, Zverev won 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6) in 2 hours, 56 minutes. Khachanov won more points than Zverev in the second set, 44 to 43, and lost it. Khachanov led the third-set tiebreak 4-1 with two set points.
Zverev is 29 and won his first major at Roland Garros in June. He lost the 2020 US Open final to Dominic Thiem after leading two sets to none. He is 34-10 in his US Open career. Shelton is 15-4.
