A tiebreak decided it, the crowd carried it
Ben Shelton beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 on Wednesday to reach the US Open third round, and the noise inside Arthur Ashe Stadium became part of the story rather than the backdrop to it.
The American struggled to hear the on-court reporter afterwards. “Super happy with the way the match went. I thought it was a battle to the end,” he said. “If I was commentating, I would talk about how loud this crowd was from start to finish.”
The eighth seed came into New York off a title run in Montreal, and he carries a number that has followed every American man for two decades: the last home winner of this tournament lifted the trophy 23 years ago.
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Hurkacz found a level, then gave the tiebreak away
The opening set looked like a formality. Hurkacz double-faulted twice in the sixth game, handed over his serve and never recovered the deficit.
The Pole reset for the second. Fifteen winners, a forehand that landed on the baseline for the break on set point, and the match was level. That forehand was the difference between a routine afternoon for Shelton and the long one he ended up having.
The third set stayed on serve throughout. In the tiebreak Hurkacz gifted Shelton a 3-0 start and never closed it back down, a small collapse that shaped the rest of the contest.
Two break points survived, one forehand to finish
A deciding set looked likely when Shelton had to defend two break points in the ninth game of the fourth. He held. Three games later, serving to stay in the match at 5-6, Hurkacz met a run of Shelton forehands he could not answer and sent his own long on match point.
Shelton reached the semi-finals here in 2023, the run that made his name. He has now dropped a set in each of his opening two matches this year, which is not the profile of a man cruising, but the second week is still in front of him.
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