Why Ben Shelton believes this time can finally be different against Carlos Alcaraz at US Open

Ben Shelton is 0-for-his career against Carlos Alcaraz, but there is a first time for everything and there may be no better time than now. The quarterfinal between the big-serving Floridian and the defending champion Spaniard under the lights Tuesday night at Arthur Ashe is the U.S.Open’s biggest match so far, and the best chance it has for an American man to define himself as the favorite in a wide-open draw where these two players were two of three top 10 seeds to reach the final eight. Shelton, who won the ATP Masters event in Toronto before the Open, practiced with Alcaraz in the lead-up to the tournament.

He saw no rust in the 23-year-old, who took a four-month layoff to deal with a right wrist injury before returning to play here, missing Roland Garros, the entire grass-court season and the lead-up to the marquee event of the hard-court season. No one who has watched Alcaraz dispatch his first four opponents here in New York while losing just one set of 13 would disagree with Shelton’s assessment. “I’ve been watching his matches.I think he’s been playing at an extremely high level,” Shelton told a news conference late Sunday evening.

“To me he looks very normal.His normal, I mean.” Which is to say, he looks like the best player on the planet, on a surface where he has won three of his seven major titles. Shelton, who would equal his best ever result at both a major and the U.S.

Open by making the semifinal with a win Tuesday, took a set off Alcaraz the last time the two met, a 2025 Round of 16 defeat at Roland Garros.In their other two meetings, both on hard courts, Alcaraz beat Shelton in straight sets. “I thought I played a good match in Paris but I think I’m serving better, returning much better [now],” Shelton said.

“I think my shot tolerance from the baseline, overall quality from the baseline and my movement have improved.I think that it’s definitely going to be a different match playing here.” For all the obvious...