Zverev, Shelton make it to final
U.S. Open tennis
Trending
NEW YORK -- Ben Shelton won the all-American duel with Frances Tiafoe and now he's the one who can end his country's long wait for another men's Grand Slam champion.
Shelton pulled out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory on Friday and will play No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday for the U.S. Open title.
The No. 8-seeded Shelton had plenty of energy left after ousting defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a quarterfinal match that ended Wednesday at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish ever at the U.S. Open.
Now he needs to stop French Open champion Zverev to give the host nation its first men's major winner since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.
Zverev beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the first semifinal.
Doubles champs crowned
NEW YORK -- Taylor Townsend was tight, not moving well and could sense she was off swinging her racket early in the U.S. Open women's doubles final.
"I wanted this really badly, and I knew that I wanted it," she said. "I felt it in my body and my spirit because I was so nervous."
Partner Katerina Siniakova talked her through the rough start Friday, and then they found their groove and rolled. Townsend and Siniakova completed their career Grand Slam as a team by defeating the wild card pair of Ashlyn Krueger and Robin Montgomery for their first U.S. Open doubles title together.
"It just means the world to me," Townsend said. "This really means everything to me, not only just to be able to win the U.S. Open but to be able to complete a career Slam."
It looked dicey early, when Townsend and Siniakova lost the first three games and dropped the first set. At one point, the ball dropped between them, an uncharacteristic mistake for the top two women's doubles players on the planet.
Then the top seeds started looking like it with aggressive shots at the net, and they took control of the match on the way to a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"The match was very tight, very tough for us, but we found a way to win it," Sinakova said. "We found a solution. I'm just really happy that we have this one, and we can celebrate it together."