Frances Tiafoe returns a shot against Jan-Lennard Struff, on August 29, 2025, in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. MADDIE MEYER / AFP
Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe both crashed out in the third round of the US Open on a bleak day for a host nation without a men’s Grand Slam champion in over 20 years. Sixth seed Shelton, a 2023 semi-finalist and recent Toronto champion, saw his bid derailed by a shoulder injury that forced him to retire against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Tiafoe, who had reached the semi-finals in New York twice in the past three years, followed Shelton through the exit door shortly after on Friday as he lost in straight sets to German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff.
Shelton led Mannarino by two sets to one before hurting his shoulder at the start of the fourth set. He attempted to play through the pain but eventually threw in the towel after the 77th-ranked Mannarino took the match to a deciding set. “I’m not a guy who would retire if I could continue,” said a dejected Shelton, who fought back tears as he walked off the court with a towel draped over his head.
He described the pain level as “really high” and was at a loss to explain its origin. “I can’t pinpoint it. Didn’t go in with an injury,” he said. “It hurts. I was playing really well, I was in form, a lot of confidence.” “Usually, I’ll play through anything and just kind of find a way. And whether it’s sickness or injury, like, if I can stay out there, I can stay out there. I never felt anything like this before,” he added.
Mannarino acknowledged his good fortune and said Shelton would likely have won the match had injury not struck. “It’s very unfortunate for him and lucky for me,” said Mannarino, who had disappeared for a bathroom break at the end of the fourth set when Shelton called it quits. “I’m 37 years old, it’s the first time I’m winning a match from the toilet.”
Tiafoe then slumped to his earliest US Open exit in six years as the 17th seed was bundled out 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) by Struff, who advanced to the last 16 in New York for the first time.
‘I haven’t been this down in a very long time’
The German had not won a match at Flushing Meadows before this tournament since reaching the third round in 2020. “It’s going to be hard to swallow how I played today and being out of the US Open, for sure, this early,” rued Tiafoe. “I don’t know how to recover from this, to be honest with you. I haven’t been this down in a very, very long time.”
The loss of Shelton and Tiafoe leaves just two Americans in the men’s draw, 2024 runner-up Taylor Fritz and 14th seed Tommy Paul.
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Fritz plays Swiss qualifier Jerome Kym in the night session, while Paul next faces the dangerous Alexander Bublik after surviving a brutal five-set epic against Nuno Borges that finished at 1:46 am early Friday. Andy Roddick’s 2003 US Open victory is the last men’s major won by an American player.
Carlos Alcaraz surged into the fourth round of the US Open on Friday. Spanish second seed Alcaraz breezed past Italian 32nd seed Luciano Darderi in emphatic fashion, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-0.
Read more Subscribers only Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner: A final ‘worthy of a film,’ according to international media
Defending champion Sabalenka en route to fourth round
In the women’s draw, meanwhile, world number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka defeated 6-3, 7-6 Canada’s 31st seed Leylah Fernandez in a night game on the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Fernandez reached the final of the US Open in 2021, where she was beaten by Britain’s Emma Raducanu – the only player in history ever to win a Grand Slam singles title after emerging through qualifying.
Raducanu’s hopes of another fairy-tale run in New York came to a juddering halt on Friday when she was steamrollered in straight sets by Kazakh ninth seed Elena Rybakina, losing 6-1, 6-2. Rybakina will face 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the fourth round after the Czech ousted Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
In other women’s draw matches, American fourth seed Jessica Pegula comfortably defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 7-5 to reach the fourth round, where she will face compatriot Ann Li. Belgian 19th seed Elise Mertens, a two-time US Open quarter-finalist, meanwhile, exited in three sets, upset by Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
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