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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Ben Shelton vs Tallon Griekspoor — 1-6 6-1 7-6(3) 6-2
 Ben Shelton✓ | 1 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
 Tallon Griekspoor | 6 | 1 | 63 | 2 |
Final · Monday, August 31, 2026 · Round of 128
Result
The first set took under half an hour and it went the wrong way. Griekspoor broke Shelton's opening service game and twice more, returning deep enough to keep the eighth seed pinned behind the baseline, and the American held once in the whole set. The second was its mirror image — three breaks the other way — and the third came down to a tiebreak that Shelton took 7-3, the last of it an ace, an error and Griekspoor's sixth double fault. Shelton broke to open the fourth, ran to 4-0 and closed it out in two hours thirty-five, having won 86% of the points behind a first serve that reached 148 mph. Griekspoor, the Dutch No. 1, has been carrying an abdominal injury and now has first-round exits at all four majors this year. Shelton is 23, ranked ninth, a semi-finalist here in 2023, and arrives having won four titles on three surfaces in 2026 including a straight-sets title defence in Toronto a fortnight ago. "I started off a little bit nervous tonight, but I found my rhythm at some point through the second set," he said. "Tallon doesn't give you a lot of rhythm." Hubert Hurkacz, whom he has never played, is next.
Ben SheltonRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
Round of 128 opens the draw's loudest quarter: Shelton, the home tour's biggest serve and biggest stage presence, starts a campaign the seedings aim at defending champion Alcaraz in the quarter-finals. Griekspoor is the classic dangerous floater — even hard-court century, flat power, nothing to defend — and the kind of opener that has clipped American seeds here before. Survive it, and the section's next two rounds read gentler than the seeding chart suggests. Sunday through Tuesday; the loser leaves with $140,000.
What we know now
Court: Arthur Ashe Stadium
Match length: 2:35
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
Shelton. The eighth seed's season (33–13) has confirmed what his 2023 semi-final here promised: the lefty serve is a top-three shot in the sport and the rest has caught up to it. Griekspoor is a proper test as first hurdles go — an even 100–96 hard-court career, a 2024 third round here, and flat power that can trade with anyone through two sets. But 12–18 describes his year honestly, and Shelton at home is a different organism: the crowd feeds the showmanship, the showmanship feeds the serve. First career meeting, and stylistically it is Griekspoor's game played one size larger by the American. Shelton in four, the tiebreaks loud.
The case for Ben Shelton
76% to winThe 2023 semi-final here came at 20; three years on, Shelton is seeded eighth with a 33-win season and a 100–58 hard-court record — the trajectory has never dipped. His serve is the most valuable single shot in this quarter of the draw, and New York amplifies him the way it amplifies nobody else his age.
The case for Tallon Griekspoor
24% to winGriekspoor's flat, aggressive baseline game is built for these courts — an even century of hard-court wins says so — and his 12–18 season overstates the decline: most of the losses came to seeds. A big server who breaks serve rarely lives dangerously; the Dutchman only needs two loose games a match, and first-round Shelton has historically provided them.
Both cases written 2026-08-28, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
My locked pick: Ben Shelton to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The serve, the season and the semi-final pedigree at his home Slam — one size larger than the same game across the net.”
Locked 2026-08-28 03:40 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Ben SheltonTallon GriekspoorPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Storylines
- Shelton's 2023 semi-final here at age 20 remains the youngest by an American man since the 1990s generation — he opens as the No. 8 seed.
- Griekspoor has exactly 100 career tour-level hard-court wins — and a first-ever meeting with the American whose game most resembles his own, amplified.
- Shelton opens the quarter that funnels toward defending champion Carlos Alcaraz — the seedings point at a blockbuster quarter-final.
Head to head
Never met — a mild surprise for two big-serving hard-courters who have shared the tour for four seasons. The first look happens with the highest stakes available: a Slam, at night, in Shelton's building.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-27.
Court & schedule: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Monday 31 August in the night session. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-08-28)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — was forecast at 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that could not be pushed back. The rain came in the morning and stopped before the final, which Ashe played with its roof open. It cleared from there: 15% overnight, 15% Monday, then dry and sunny. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.