Zverev adds the US Open to Roland Garros for a major double in one season

Two. That is how many Grand Slam titles Alexander Zverev now owns, and both came in 2026. The top seed beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 in the US Open final, adding New York to Roland Garros and extending his head-to-head with Shelton to 6-0.

Zverev, 29 and ranked second, met an opponent six years younger and ranked fourth, the eighth seed who had knocked out Carlos Alcaraz in five sets in the quarter-final. The final was closer on the scoreboard than in the margins: Zverev won 125 of the 238 points against 113. All six of their meetings have now gone to the German, the first at Cincinnati in 2024.

He took the first set by breaking in the opening game and again in the ninth for 6-3. The second set had no breaks at all and went to a tiebreak, which Zverev ran 7-2. Shelton did get one set back, breaking in the 12th game of the third to win it 7-5, but it was the only time he got through Zverev's serve. In the fourth Zverev broke in the first game and again for 5-2, and he needed a single match point to finish. Shelton hit more winners, 47 to 35, and more aces, 10 to 9, but also 47 unforced errors to Zverev's 31, and converted one of his three break points while Zverev converted four of six.

Zverev served at 213 km/h on his first serve on average, against 192 km/h for Shelton, won 19 of 20 service games and won 25 of 29 points at the net. His route to the title began with five-set wins over Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys, then ran through four straight-set wins against Alejandro Tabilo, Luciano Darderi, Botic Van De Zandschulp and Karen Khachanov. It is his 27th tour-level title and his second at a major, after Roland Garros, on a season record of 54-13. For Shelton, 23, it ends a year with four titles, in Dallas, Munich, Stuttgart and Montreal, without a Grand Slam among them.

Match tale, 13 September 2026, sources: US Open, api-tennis