Late nights at the US Open add a new wild wrinkle with 3:33 a.m. finish to Shelton-Alcaraz thriller

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NEW YORK (AP) — The late-night action at the U.S. Open has now reached an extreme.

Ben Shelton's five-set thriller to beat reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals ended at 3:33 a.m. Wednesday, leaving few people awake to see the 4 1/2-hour marathon reach its finale on one of the sport's biggest stages. That only added to the list of early-morning finishes that had already stirred frustration and concerns about how organizers were managing the schedule at the Grand Slam event with numerous matches straying well past night-owl hours.

Players have long loved the electricity of playing night matches under the lights in the nation’s biggest city. But the tournament had already set a record with three post-2 a.m. finishes over the first six days, as well as having two other matches go past 1 a.m.

That had included Venus Williams being subjected to the latest start in U.S. Open history at 12:13 a.m., after it took 4 hours, 36 minutes for Novak Djokovic to get knocked out in the first round.

"It’s not ideal,” Williams said at the time.

Shelton himself had a four-set second-round win against Denis Shapovalov that ended at 2:07 a.m.

Then came Tuesday night — well, Wednesday morning.

Shelton, a 23-year-old from Atlanta seeded No. 8, earned a massive win in his young career to reach his third major semifinal by taking down the second-seeded Alcaraz 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7). He closed the fifth-set tiebreak with a 146-mph ace and ended the reigning champion's 18-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments.

It ended with Arthur Ashe Stadium perhaps one-third full at what became the latest-finishing match in U.S. Open history.

“We’re going to break the record," TV announcer John McEnroe said. "It’s going to be the latest finish in U.S. Open history, and we are here to witness it.”

This one set up an all-American semifinal matchup with 11th-seeded Frances Tiafoe, with the U.S. guaranteed to have a representative in Sunday's final as it seeks its first major men's title since Andy Roddick won at Flushing Meadows in 2003.

About 5 1/2 hours after the match's conclusion, the U.S. Open went to social media with a lighthearted nod to the late night, offering a fill-in-the-blank letter for fans to ask their bosses to be excused from work Wednesday.

“We understand how important showing up is, but sometimes you have to make time for things you’re passionate about,” the post on X stated. “Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton put on an absolute stellar performance during their US Open quarterfinal, and ______ was a fully committed fan who was completely locked in from start to finish.”

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