Ben Shelton handcuffs Frances Tiafoe with blazing racquet speed and blind confidence of youth

NEW YORK—“It was a hot one tonight, wasn’t it guys?” Ben Shelton asked the crowd in Ashe Stadium after his 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 win over Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday.

It was certainly hot out—in the 80s and humid. Spectators were still fanning themselves well into the evening, and both players were lacquered with sweat almost immediately.

Shelton’s game was hot as well. While he made just 59 percent of his first serves and hit “only” 14 aces—I thought the total would be higher over four sets—the 20-year-old played exceptionally well in all other areas.

Beforehand, I wrote that Shelton might dominate with his serve, but it was the older and higher-ranked Tiafoe who had the more nuanced and consistent baseline game. Not so on Tuesday. Shelton hit 50 winners, 16 more than Tiafoe, and committed just one more unforced error, 34 to 33. Shelton found a balance between pace, spin, and control from the ground that has eluded him for much of this season.

He drove his two-handed backhand flat and deep, and he whipped and hooked his forehand into the corners with a buzzing topspin that made the ball dive and curl. It was clear from the start that Shelton was hitting a heavier ball, and he used it handcuff Tiafoe and at times outright overpower him. Shelton was also just as deft with his touch shots, and equally effective as Tiafoe at net.

Still, tennis scoring, like the Electoral College, can make a fairly one-sided contest into something much tighter and edgier. Shelton won 16 more points than Tiafoe overall (123 to 107), but the match was really decided by a single swing of the victor’s racquet.

Sometimes you have to shut out the brain, close your eyes, and just swing. —Ben Shelton

That swing came at the tail end of the third-set tiebreaker. The two had split the first two sets, and then, against all expectations, they had broken each other six straight times in the third. By the time they reached 6-6, the match had turned topsy-turvy and unpredictable. But it was also clear that the tiebreaker was going to be crucial.

Shelton started well, bombing down two early aces, and going up 4-2, 5-3, and 6-4. Then he reminded everyone that he’s still new at this, by double faulting twice to go down 6-7. That’s when he hit the decisive shot of the match. With Tiafoe serving at set point, Shelton rescued himself with the blind confidence of youth. He took a giant cut at his forehand return, and sent it directly down the line and into the corner, with a serendipitous mix of recklessness and precision. A few people in Shelton’s player box looked like they were about to faint as the ball landed. But never fear; the score was 7-7. Tiafoe, stunned, made two errors to give Shelton the set, and not too long after, the match.

“Sometimes you have to shut out the brain, close your eyes, and just swing,” Shelton said of his inch-perfect return.

Maybe someday that phrase will replace Billie Jean King’s “Pressure is a privilege” on the plaque that the players pass as they walk into Ashe Stadium.

The night was hot and Shelton was too, but Tiafoe never caught fire. He started flat, and stayed that way. He was tentative in the first set, but even when he got his game going in the second, there was little of the familiar fire and showmanship that we’ve come to know from him, especially in New York. He looked resigned in the fourth set, when he needed to mount a rally. Tiafoe was on his back foot because of Shelton’s game, but was he also not sure what to do with a younger showman on the other side of the net? Overall, he ceded the stage early and never took it back.

Shelton is into his first Grand Slam semifinal, and with his convincing back-to-back wins over Tommy Paul and Tiafoe, he has suddenly upset the U.S. men’s-tennis apple cart. Next up for him is Novak Djokovic. Shelton said he hopes the Ashe crowd will come out again to push him up that mountain. They sounded happy to help.