Alexander Zverev (No. 2, Germany) defeated Ben Shelton (No. 9, USA) to claim his maiden US Open title. Following his first Grand Slam victory at the French Open in June, Zverev has now secured two major championships this season by conquering the US Open.
On September 13, Zverev outplayed Shelton in the men’s singles final at Flushing Meadows, New York, winning 3-1 (6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2).
With this US Open triumph, Zverev has become a two-time Grand Slam champion this season, building on his breakthrough victory at the French Open in June.
This win also erases the bitter memory of his 2020 US Open final loss to Dominic Thiem (Austria), where he surrendered a two-set lead.
Zverev’s victory marks the first time a German player has clinched the US Open men’s singles title since Boris Becker in 1989, ending a 37-year drought.
For his championship run, Zverev pocketed a whopping 5.5 million USD.
After securing the first two sets, Zverev seemed poised for victory. However, Shelton managed to break Zverev’s serve in the final game of the third set, mounting a comeback attempt.
Zverev quickly regained control by breaking Shelton’s serve in the opening game of the fourth set. He then capitalized on Shelton’s consecutive errors to seal the championship.
This victory extends Zverev’s perfect record against Shelton to 6-0 in their head-to-head encounters.
In his post-match interview, Zverev acknowledged the crowd’s preference, saying that he knows 99.9% of the people here wanted Shelton to win and that he’s truly sorry. He added that even though he realized the crowd wasn’t cheering for him, he still enjoyed playing in such an electric atmosphere.
On the other hand, Shelton, who was aiming to become the first American male Grand Slam singles champion since Andy Roddick in 2003, fell just short of making history.
Shelton graciously praised Zverev, stating that he is one of the best players in the world and perhaps the best player this year.