Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe exit US Open in pair of third-round stunners

NEW YORK—Three and out.

A beautiful Friday afternoon in Flushing Meadows turned brutal for American tennis fans when Ben Shelton, the No. 6 seed, and Frances Tiafoe, the No. 17 seed, lost a pair of third-round matches to unseeded opponents.

Shelton, a 2023 US Open semifinalist, was forced to retire prior to the fifth set against 37-year-old 77th-ranked Adrian Mannarino, suffering from an acute shoulder injury with the score tied at 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, ret.

Tiafoe, a US Open semifinalist in 2022 and 2024, lost roughly an hour later to 35-year-old, 144th-ranked Struff, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Shelton, 22, was leading Mannarino by two sets to one when he was heard telling father and coach Bryan that “I did something to my shoulder and I don’t know what it is,” describing feeling “in a lot of pain” before calling a mid-game medical timeout.

"I never retired before. I'm not a guy who would retire if I could continue," a dejected Shelton said after the match.

Despite looking visibly compromised on several shots, Shelton played through the fourth set in hope of securing a straightforward victory, but was unable to continue and made the emotional decision to retire upon Mannarino’s return from an off-court break.

Shelton enjoyed a Masters 1000 breakthrough earlier this summer when he won the National Bank Open in Toronto. He followed up that result with a quarterfinal finish at the Cincinnati Open, and won both of his first two rounds in straight sets against Ignacio Buse and Pablo Carreño Busta.

"I've got a lot to be grateful for," said Shelton. "Been pretty fortunate with my life; blessings, talents, a lot of things God's given me. You know, a small setback like this, yeah, it hurts. I was playing really well, I was in form, a lot of confidence. Just so many things to be happy with the way that I was playing, moving on the court, competing.

"But like I said, it's been a great summer, a lot of things to be thankful for. You won't hear me over here pouting about how bad things are with the summer that I've had, the things that I've been able to do in this sport in a short amount of time and the people I got around me, like I said, a lot of blessings."

Mannarino is a former world No. 17 making his 15th main-draw appearance at the US Open, but had never made it past the third round. The Frenchman won a close sixth game in the fourth set that could have handed Shelton a crucial break, and served out the fourth set on his sixth set point.

Mannarino will next face No. 20 seed Jiri Lehecka for the chance to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Tiafoe, 27, reached the third round after a demanding four-set win over Martin Damm Jr., but could never get into a rhythm against the hard-serving Struff. When the German served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, he had offered Tiafoe just a single break point (which he converted). He then double-faulted three consecutive points before landing a second serve at 0-40; Tiafoe then broke serve for the second time. It would be his last.

A capacity crowd on Grandstand was ready and willing to help Tiafoe all the way back, generating noise that felt like a football stadium. But Tiafoe couldn't convert his solitary set point, and was undone by particularly passive play in the key rallies.

"I just thought Grandstand was super quick today," Tiafoe explained in press, "and having to have rallies was very, very tough. I was late on a lot of balls, just scrubbing them to be on offense, and he was dictating play most of the time. The match was always kind of on his racquet. I had a little window there when he just gave me some gifts. I didn't take it.

"But, you know, I played extremely passive today. I didn't put any pressure on him at all."

Struff, in the fourth round of the US Open for the first time, will face either Noak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie, and will attempt to reach his first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal.

Reporting from David Kane and Ed McGrogan.