Alexander Zverev became the champion of the 2026 US Open tennis tournament. In the decisive match on the New York courts, the German defeated American Ben Shelton with a score of 3:1 (6:3, 7:6(2), 5:7, 6:2) in a contest that lasted more than three and a half hours. The triumph in the United States became the 29-year-old's second Grand Slam title of the current season and allowed him to join the narrow circle of German tennis players who have won two "majors" in a single calendar year.

Course of the decisive match

Zverev started the final confidently: he quickly seized the initiative and took the opening set 6:3, then closed out his opponent in the second-set tiebreak, winning it 7:2. Shelton, however, managed to level things in the third set, converting a set point at 6:5 in his favor. In the fourth set the initiative fully shifted to the German: he completely controlled the situation and finished the match 6:2, giving the American no chance of a comeback.

Statistics: why Zverev won

The final's numbers show that the German's victory was driven not by the number of attacking shots, but by reliability. Ben Shelton hit noticeably more winners — 47 to Zverev's 31 — yet it was the German who prevailed thanks to consistent play on his own serve and discipline: Zverev committed 31 unforced errors, whereas Shelton made 47. It was precisely this gap in "clean" errors that decided the three-hour encounter in the champion's favor.

Second major of the season and Becker's feat

For Zverev, this title was his second of the season at a Grand Slam tournament — earlier in 2026 he had triumphated at Wimbledon. Thus, the German repeated Boris Becker's achievement, becoming only the second tennis player from Germany in history to conquer two "majors" within a single calendar year. After the match, Zverev emphasized that 2026 was the result of years of hard work: "We went 30 years without Grand Slam wins, and now we've won two within three months. I think God sees how hard we've worked, how much we've suffered and how much pain we've been through. I think 2026 is the result of all the previous seasons we've had."

Ranking and Sinner's absence

Despite the triumph in New York, Zverev retains the second spot in the world ranking, trailing Italian Jannik Sinner, who missed the American Grand Slam due to injuries. Thus, the top of the world classification during the US Open 2026 final remained with the Italian, while Zverev held firm behind him with two "majors" to his name for the season.

Contradictory data

When cross-checking sources, minor discrepancies concern only the formatting of the second-set score: in the main version of the material the tiebreak is recorded as 7:6(2), whereas in one source the result is given in expanded form as 7:6 (7:2). In essence, both notations describe the same outcome of the set — a 7:6 set win with a 7:2 tiebreak score — so there are no factual contradictions in the match result. It is also worth noting that some of the materials found (broadcast announcements) were prepared before the final began and only record the schedule of the match, while the final score is confirmed by post-match sources.