The 2026 US Open has entered a decisive stage, producing a rare combination of history on the women’s side and renewed American hopes in the men’s draw.
For the first time since 1975, all four top-seeded women reached the US Open semifinals: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 2 Elena Rybakina, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Coco Gauff. The achievement underlined just how little room there was for a major upset among the tournament’s leading contenders.
The semifinal lineup featured Sabalenka against Pegula and Rybakina against Gauff. Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, continued her bid for a historic third consecutive US Open title by defeating Pegula 7-5, 6-2. The victory sent the Belarusian into her fourth straight US Open final and left her one win away from joining an elite group of women to win the tournament three years in a row.
Sabalenka’s performance was especially impressive after a tense opening. She eventually overwhelmed Pegula with her power, finishing with seven aces and 29 winners. Pegula, who was the 2024 US Open runner-up, struggled to contain Sabalenka’s aggressive baseline game as the match progressed.
The other women’s semifinal put Gauff against newly crowned world No. 1 Rybakina, creating another major storyline in New York. Rybakina had taken the No. 1 ranking after defeating Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals, ending Sabalenka’s 99-week reign at the top.
The historic women’s semifinal lineup also carried major ranking and Grand Slam implications. Rybakina entered the tournament having already won the Australian Open earlier in 2026, while Gauff was seeking another US Open championship after her breakthrough title in New York in 2023.
American Men Deliver a Blockbuster Semifinal
The men’s draw has produced an equally compelling storyline, with Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton set for an all-American semifinal.
Shelton, the No. 8 seed, stunned defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in an extraordinary five-set quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m. The match became the latest finish in US Open history, with Shelton prevailing 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(10-7).
Tiafoe, seeded No. 11, also survived a five-set battle, rallying past fellow American Alex Michelsen to reach his third US Open semifinal. His run guarantees an American man will reach the final, regardless of who wins the showdown with Shelton.
The matchup has added historical significance beyond the American title drought. Tiafoe and Shelton are the first Black American men to meet in a Grand Slam semifinal during the Open Era, marking another important moment for representation in American tennis.
The United States has been waiting since Andy Roddick’s 2003 US Open triumph for another American men’s singles Grand Slam champion. The winner of the Shelton-Tiafoe clash will now have a direct route to ending that long drought.
But the American dream is not guaranteed. Standing in the other half of the men’s draw are top seed Alexander Zverev and Russia’s Karen Khachanov. Zverev, the reigning French Open champion, has reached the semifinals at all four Grand Slam tournaments this season, while Khachanov advanced after Alexander Blockx retired from their quarterfinal.
That leaves the US Open with two powerful storylines: a women’s field packed with the sport’s highest-ranked stars and an American men’s resurgence that could finally produce a homegrown Grand Slam champion.
For American tennis fans, the biggest question is no longer whether an American man can reach the final.
It is whether Shelton or Tiafoe can take the next step and bring the US Open trophy back to the United States for the first time in more than two decades.
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