IN THE city that never sleeps, Ben Shelton produced the performance of his life to knock out defending champion Carlos Alcaraz from the US Open – at 3.33am local time.
Whatever the time of day or night, there is always something significant going on in New York, a 24/7 haven for insomniacs, and incredibly Shelton and Alcaraz served up a treat of a tennis match in the early hours of the morning.
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A contest that began on Tuesday night and then went through five gruelling sets, finishing after four hours and 28 minutes of action on Wednesday morning, only three hours before sunrise over New York, in a record late finish.
A contest that pushed Alcaraz to sickness – he appeared to puke in his towel at the start of the fifth set – as he lost to an American for the first time at a major in 14 head-to-heads.
It was another example of the insanity of professional tennis that the pair should be expected to stage a match of this magnitude under these extraordinary circumstances.
Yet in this battle of wits and stamina, the American, 23, managed to overcome tiredness and fatigue as he eliminated Alcaraz in a famous 6-7 6-1 6-3 1-6 7-6 victory, with raucous chants of USA ringing in his ears.
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Those defiant fans who stayed on court – and many thousands had left Flushing Meadows for their beds – will forever remember the twists and turns of this epic five-setter.
It surpassed the previous latest finish of 2.50am when Alcaraz got the better of Italian Jannik Sinner in the 2022 quarter-finals.
No8 seed Shelton will now have two days to digest his first win over Alcaraz and the first time in 18 matches he has beaten a top-three opponent.
It will be an all-American last-four encounter with Frances Tiafoe as the duo attempt to end the 23-year wait for a home-grown champion – Andy Roddick holds that distinction from 2003.
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It was 11.05pm local time on Tuesday when Shelton fired down the first serve of the match.
The Tiafoe versus Alex Michelsen five-set epic – the second day-time encounter – had gone on so long that it had delayed the evening schedule by more than an hour.
And then in the women’s quarter-finals, Jessica Pegula laboured over the course of two hours and 20 minutes before coming from behind to beat fellow Yank Emma Navarro.
What other sport puts its elite participants through such grueling, unnecessary and ridiculous conditions?
Formula One, golf, football, rugby or athletics – none of these sports expect their biggest names to play this late at night.
There had already been several late-night finishes in this tournament, as Alex Zverev has known to his cost, but this proved to be the worst of the lot, and on a school night, too.
Alcaraz had won the previous three head-to-heads but Shelton, wearing a Bjorn Borg-style headband, came out firing and was not overawed by the mammoth task he faced across the net.
To their immense credit, they both managed to produce a high level of tennis and there were some exhilarating moments that had the fans on their feet.
Neither wanted to give an inch, particularly given the stakes they were fighting for, the prestige, the money, the title.
Especially when, at 2.20am, it went to a fifth set and deep down, they knew there could be another hour to go, which proved to be the case.
It was incredible that Alcaraz was even in this situation, given he is playing in the Big Apple after a four-and-a-half month break with a wrist injury which saw him skip the French Open and Wimbledon.
Once it was all done, following a 146mph ace from Shelton, everyone present really needed to go away for a long lie-down, including Trinity Rodman of the Washington Spirit, who stuck by boyfriend Shelton throughout this memorable event.
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However, perhaps Tiafoe – who was tucked up in bed in Manhattan – was the real winner from all of this and he may benefit from a physical perspective when he faces Shelton in a few days’ time.
One thing is certain – there will be a new name on the trophy come Sunday evening.