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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 32
Ben Shelton vs Denis Shapovalov — 7-6(3) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4
 Ben Shelton✓ | 7 | 65 | 6 | 6 |
 Denis Shapovalov | 63 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Final · Friday, September 4, 2026 · Round of 32
Result
Ashe did not get to them until about 10:45 p.m. — Venus and Serena Williams's doubles had run three hours on the same court — and Shelton did not finish until 2:07 a.m., the third match of this tournament to end after two in the morning. The first two sets were a left-hander's scramble in which nobody could hold: they traded breaks twice apiece before Shelton ran the opening tiebreak 7-3, and he then served for the second at 5-4 and again at 6-5, was broken both times, and lost that breaker 7-5. From there he stopped conceding. He broke early in the third and again in the fourth and faced no further break point, closing with fourteen aces to eight. Shapovalov's night ended in an argument: at 0-2 in the fourth he told the chair that Shelton's grunting was inconsistent — "it should be consistent, you know" — and was booed while the umpire waved it away. "Serving for it twice in the second, giving that up, is just unacceptable," Shelton said. "Not an easy night. Nowhere near my best. I got through it." It is his first US Open fourth round since the 2023 run to the semi-finals, and a fifth win in five against Shapovalov.
Ben SheltonRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 32 is the third round, and the last one before a Grand Slam draw becomes a small tournament: sixteen men's matches across Friday and Saturday leave sixteen players standing, every one of them having won twice on these courts. This is the round where the seeding chart stops doing any work — from here on, whoever is left is who you play.
Ben Shelton✓Denis ShapovalovRound of 64
Round of 32
What we know now
Court: Arthur Ashe Stadium
Match length: 3:22
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.
Two left-handers, and one of them has won all four of their meetings. Shelton is the eighth seed, ranked ninth, 34-14 for the season and a US Open semi-finalist at 20; he has now dropped the opening set in both his matches here and won them both anyway, beating Tallon Griekspoor in four and then Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 5-7 7-6(3) 7-5 in 3 hours 24 minutes, breaking the Pole as he served to stay in it. Shapovalov is 27, ranked 48th, 15-18 for the season, and has just played his cleanest match in months: a bagel to open, 50 winners to 19, seven break points converted from nine, and a third-set tiebreak taken 9-7 against Luca Van Assche. Their history is unhelpfully one-sided. Shelton won at Wimbledon in five, in Washington by retirement, in Shanghai in straights, and in the Dallas semi-final in February on a 7-6(4) in the third. That last one is the reason the number below is 80 and not higher: the most recent meeting was a set from going the other way.
The case for Ben Shelton
80% to winFour wins from four, a semi-final here at 20, and the biggest left-handed serve in the game. Shelton has already been taken to four sets twice this week and won both, which is the useful kind of practice; he is 34-14 for the season against Shapovalov's 15-18, and 39 ranking places clear. He also does not need his best tennis to beat this opponent — he has never had to produce it.
The case for Denis Shapovalov
20% to winShapovalov played his best match in a year on Wednesday: 50 winners, seven of nine break points taken, and a bagel against a man who had just beaten the 29th seed. He took Shelton to a third-set tiebreak in Dallas seven months ago, so the head-to-head is closer than 4-0 makes it look. He is also a former US Open quarter-finalist, and a left-hander who has spent his career solving other left-handers' serves.
Both cases written 2026-09-02, 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
“Four from four, 39 ranking places and a season record twice as good; Dallas is the reason this is not a formality.”
Locked 2026-09-02 23:55 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Ben SheltonDenis ShapovalovPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-04.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Storylines
- Both men are left-handed; it is the only all-left-handed match in the men's third round.
- Shelton leads the head-to-head 4-0, but their most recent meeting went to a third-set tiebreak.
- Shelton has dropped the opening set in both his matches here and won both.
- Shapovalov opened his second round with a 6-0 set and hit 50 winners to 19.
- Shelton reached the US Open semi-finals in 2023; Shapovalov the quarter-finals in 2020.
Head to head
Shelton leads 4-0: Wimbledon in 2024 in five sets, Washington in July 2024 (Shapovalov retired at 7-6(5) 6-6), Shanghai 6-3 7-5 that October, and the Dallas semi-final in February, 4-6 6-4 7-6(4).
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Court & schedule: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Friday 4 September 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 2026-09-03)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — is 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that cannot be pushed back. Ashe closes its roof and plays on. It clears overnight: 20% Sunday night, 20% Monday, then dry and sunny from Tuesday. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.