BREAKING NEWS: Zverev wins the US Open for a second Grand Slam title in a single season

Alexander Zverev returned to the US Open final six years after losing it from two sets up in an empty stadium, and beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 for a second Grand Slam title in a single season. He won it on his first match point, against the first top 10 player he had faced in the fortnight, and seemed not to realise it was over.

Tennis – Us open 2026 – ITF – New York – Demi Final Messieurs Victoire d Alexandre Zverev Allemagne Contre Khachanov Russie

Cédric Rouquette

September 13, 2026

Alexander Zverev won the US Open for the first time, beating Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 on Sunday night in New York for the second Grand Slam title of his career and the second of his season after Roland-Garros. He took it on his first match point and appeared not to register that it was over.

It makes the German the fourth man in the Open era to win his first two Grand Slam titles in the same year, after Jimmy Connors in 1974, Guillermo Vilas in 1977 and Jannik Sinner in 2024, and only the second German man to win this title, after Boris Becker in 1989.

He becomes the fifth active player with more than one major, alongside Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner and Stan Wawrinka, and the first man born in the 1990s to do it. It was his 53rd win of a season in which he already leads the tour.

The final was decided by a first serve, and by how long Shelton had to wait for a look at it. Zverev won 93 per cent of the points behind his opening delivery across the first two sets, 39 of 42, and the American did not earn a single break point until 3-2 in the third.

Both breaks in the opening set ended on Shelton double faults, and the second set went to a tie-break Zverev led 5-0 and took 7-2. When Shelton finally found the range the third was his in a hurry: 90 per cent behind his own first serve, unforced errors down from 18 to seven, 36 of the 62 points, and the break at 5-6 when Zverev put a forehand volley out having had an easy forehand the shot before.

Zverev’s answer was immediate. He broke in the first game of the fourth, broke again at 4-2, and served it out at the first attempt. He hasn’t even realized he had won after the match point.

For Shelton it is a first Grand Slam final and a wait that goes on. No American man has won a major since Andy Roddick at this tournament in 2003. The 23-year-old was the first Black American man in a US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972, and he took the third set to become the only player to win one against Zverev all fortnight.