Ben Shelton dialled in as he surges to another astonishing rankings feat with Frances Tiafoe win

Shahida Jacobs
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Ben Shelton in action
Ben Shelton (USA) during a match

Ben Shelton performed his now-famous telephone celebration after reaching yet another incredible milestone in his young career with victory over Frances Tiafoe at the US Open.

Playing in only his fifth Grand Slam main draw, Shelton broke fresh ground as he reached his maiden semi-final with a mature display against the more experienced Tiafoe – a man who defeated Rafael Nadal last year en route to reaching the last four in New York.

The big-serving Shelton dominated the all-American showdown on Arthur Ashe Stadium as he came away with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 victory and once the umpire declared “game, set, match Shelton” he kicked off the celebrations by imitating a cellphone, picking it up before putting it down as to say “sorry, I can’t talk right now”.

And you can forgive the 20-year-old for not having the time or the energy to talk to anyone after his three-hour win over Tiafoe.

“It was a hot one in here tonight wasn’t it guys? I feel like I left it all out here tonight. Emotional battle. Thanks for staying so late, hell of an atmosphere and thanks for pushing me off the line,” he said.

The youngster broke in games five and seven of the opening set before Tiafoe claimed a single break in game six of the second set to get level on terms.

But the third set was a humdinger as there were six breaks of serve in the first eight games, but it was the world No 47 who held his nerve during the tie-breaker – despite some costly double faults in the third set – to take a two-set to one lead. An early break in the fourth set eased the nerves and he backed it up with another break in game seven before serving it out.

“Sometimes you have to shut off the brain, close the eyes and just swing,” he added. “Maybe there was a little bit of that down set point, but it ended up working out.”

Ben Shelton’s Rankings Rise

The run to the semi-final of the US Open saw him earn 720 points and he is already guaranteed to move into the top 20 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.

He will surge up 28 places from his current 47 – well past the previous best of 35 first achieved in May this year – up to No 19.

Not bad for someone who started the year at No 96 with no Grand Slam main draw match wins under belt. Before last year’s US Open, he was still ranked outside the top 250 while he was No 573 at the start of the 2022 season.

But he reached the quarter-final of the Australian Open at the beginning of this campaign to start his surge and has now gone one better at the US Open.

Next up is one of the all-time greats in Novak Djokovic after the second seed saw off Taylor Fritz in straight sets.

“He’s won maybe 23 of these… something like that,” Shelton joked before adding, “It doesn’t get much better than that. It’s been tough the last two matches as I have been playing Americans, but hopefully you guys [the crowd] will bring it for me two nights from now.”

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