Alexander Zverev made a return to the semi-finals of the US Open half a decade after his last appearance as the top seed attempts to win his second Grand Slam title of the season. 

The winner of the Roland Garros trophy three months ago, earned his spot in the final four in New York 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 over  Botic Van De Zandschulp.

The German top seed was a semi-finalist here in 2021 after losing a tight 2020 final to Dominic Thiem. 

Zverev will face Karen Khachanov, who defeated Alexander Blockx 6-2, 7-5, 3-2 as the Belgian retired injured with a rib problem which had required several medical timeouts during play in their quarter-final.

“I was still feeling my rib a lot (from his previous match),” Blockx said. “I was still feeling my leg. Then in the second set, I blocked a nerve in my back, which was even worse to move. 

“I was just waiting for him to break me, you never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t want to risk to make anything worse than it was already.”

Zverev increased his lead in match wins on the Tour in 2026 as he claimed his 51st by reaching the 13th Grand Slam semi-final of his career, still well behind the 55 of Novak Djokovic.

“The more often you get to that stage, the more normal it becomes, which is
something that you should never take for granted,” the winner said after his two-and-a-quarter victory.

“I don’t take it for granted at all. I know it can change in a heartbeat in tennis. Confidence is something that is incredibly important but also can go away quite quickly,”

He added: “I found that out after Wimbledon (final against Jannik Sinner) where I didn’t play well throughout the two tournaments (Montreal, Cincinnati) on the hard courts – but  found it again here.

“Of  course I’m happy with how things are going, but looking forward, I still hope to play two good matches here.”

Zverev broke six of nine times while never losing his serve against his Dutch opponent.

Grunting seed Ben Shelton wrapped up another early -morning finish for the US Open on Saturday, earning a controversial 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Canadian Denis Shapovalov to reach the fourth round.

As usual at the event, play did not finish until around 2 a.m. with a complaint about the American’s habitual grunting batted away by the chair umpire in the fourth set.

Eighth seed Shelton, the repeat Canadian champion last month,  has become something of a controversial character with his hardcore victory gestures, on-court swagger and generally aggressive demeanour.

His strutting act was raw meat for the after-dark New York fans on a night when compatriots Frances Tiafoe and Alex Michelsen also reached the last 16.

Tiafoe, the recent Cincinnati finalist, defeated Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 while Michelsen put out Spaniard Daniel Merida 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3.

Shelton’s three-and-a-half-hour win puts him on a collision course with resurgent Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Jiri Lehecka 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

The Shelton match started late after the men waited out a three-hour loss by the Williams sister in doubles, with the recipients of a purely sentimental wild card losing 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) to Maya Joint and Chan Hao-Ching.

“We waited around for three hours, and when we thought that doubles would maybe just be an hour. That was hard to deal with.

“It was not an easy night. Nowhere near my best, but I got through it.”

Shelton said that losing his last two service games to drop the second set against Shapo was infuriating.

“I think the anger fueled me a little bit. Also just accepting where I was
at, the things that I did have, what I needed to do to win, that I not try and play outside my limits.”

No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula reached the third round in less than an hour, hammering Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1 to lead their career series 5-2.

The 32-year-old Pegula finished runner-up in 2024 and came to New York with a final at Cincinnati barely  a week ago against Coco Gauff.

She added to her total of WTA-leading match wins this season with her 46th and stayed in the four-woman chase for the top ranking if she can win the home tournament.

“I’m just happy with the way I played throughout the whole match. To be out of there in under an hour, it doesn’t always happen. 

“I’m just going to take that one and run, I guess, until the next round. I’m happy with the way I played. I thought it was another solid match.”

Pegula next plays 2021 runner up Leylah Fernandez of Canada after losing just nine games in two rounds.

Double Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini also reached the third round for a third consecutive year with a 6-4, 6-1 win over compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini with the winner playing for the fist time this week since Wimbledon.

.Taylor Townsend became the first player in the third round after beating Taylah Preston 6-1, 6-1 in 49 minutes.

Former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova lost a quick 6-1, 7-6 (4) decision to French Open semi-finalist Diana Shnaider. Paula Badosa came back to finish off a match which was paused by rain the night before with the Spaniard holding match points and furious at the interrupton.

Badosa advanced 6-1, 6-4 over Daria Kasatkina.

2017 champion Sloane Stephens lost 6-1, 67-5 to Marta Kostyuk, who manages to play top-level tennis as 11th in the world despite stress and worry about her famaily back home in Kyiv.

“Things are very difficult right now, but I’m trying to live life to the fullest,” the Ukrainian said. “Right now, Kyiv has been under attack for six days.

“My family is there, and there are much more important things in life than losing a tennis match or having a bad day.”

Two-time Open semi-finalist Karolina Muchova needed 57 minutes and 22 unforced errors from Britain’s Katie Boulter for a one-way 6-1, 6-0 result for the seventh seed .

The British No.1 has claimed just two match victories at the four Grand Slams this season.