Defending champions Carlos Alcaraz is having a tough time during his men’s singles quarterfinal of the US Open 2026 against home favourite Ben Shelton at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday. Having missed two Grand Slams due to injury, Alcaraz is on a comeback trail, hoping to get his mojo back at the final Major of the year.
On the other hand, is eyeing his first-ever Grand Slam triumph and faced a tough competition against the Spaniard, despite the fact that the seven-time Grand Slam champion is playing his first tournament in more than four months after recovering from a right wrist injury.
At the time of writing, the second seed fought off the eighth-seed in the first set tiebreak to take a 1-0 lead, but conceded into the next two sets to find himself in a great trouble. But Alcaraz was in no mood o let go Shelton so easily as he made roaring 6-1 comeback in the fourth set.
Having made his Grand Slam debut in 2022, Alcaraz has already completed a career Grand Slam winning all four – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. The last time, Alcaraz lost a Grand Slam match was against in the final of the Wimbledon in 2025.
Since then, Alcaraz won the 2025 US Open and the 2026 Australian Open titles. In any Grand Slam, in singles, any player who goes on to win the title, plays a total of seven games. Currently, Alcaraz has won four games in the ongoing , thus extending his unbeaten streak to 18 games.
As far as the head-to-head statistics are concerned, Alcaraz leads by a 3-0 margin. Alcaraz, an unknown quantity coming into his title defense after his injury layoff, has improved with every match and he’ll likely need to do so again against , who comes from a tennis-rich family.
Shelton came through three tough four-setters before blowing past Stefanos Tsitsipas behind a stellar performance on serve and said he still has room to improve against Alcaraz. This is Shelton’s fourth appearance in a quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. Previously, Shelton’s best finishes at Majors included quarterfinal exits at Australian Open (2023 & 2026) and Wimbledon (2025).
More to follow…
