By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The US Open tennis championships has produced a striking contrast between the women’s and men’s singles draws, with the top four seeds dominating the women’s competition while the men’s event has been turned on its head.
All four top seeds in the women’s singles — Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff — have reached the semifinals, the first time since Wimbledon 2009 that the top four women’s seeds have made the last four at a Grand Slam.
The last time such a top-four sweep occurred at a Grand Slam women’s section was at the 2009 Wimbledon when Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Dementieva reached the semifinals, with Serena eventually winning the title.
The US Open therefore enters its final stages with an unusually star-studded women’s field, with every one of the tournament’s top four seeds still in contention for the year’s final Grand Slam title.
The last time the top four seeds all reached a Grand Slam semifinal was at the 2011 French Open, when Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray made the last four.
The men’s tournament, in contrast, has witnessed a series of major upsets this time at the US Open. Top seed Alexander Zverev is the only player from the top four to survive into the semifinals. Second seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out by eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton in a dramatic five-set quarterfinal, while fourth seed Novak Djokovic exited in the opening round. Third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also failed to make the last four.
Zverev will meet Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the semifinals, while Shelton will face compatriot Frances Tiafoe in an all-American clash. Khachanov reached the last four after Belgium’s Alexander Blockx retired during their quarterfinal with the Russian leading 6-2, 7-5, 3-2.
The Shelton-Tiafoe semifinal is particularly historic as it is the first Grand Slam men’s semifinal between two Black American players in the Open Era.
The contrasting draws underline how unpredictable men’s tennis has become at Flushing Meadows. While the women’s tournament has retained its biggest names deep into the competition, the men’s event has opened the door for a new champion.
For Zverev, however, the opportunity is enormous. With Alcaraz, Djokovic and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner — who withdrew before the tournament with a knee injury — all out, the German is the highest-ranked player remaining in the men’s draw.
The US Open therefore heads into its final stages with a rare situation: almost perfect representation of the elite at the top of the women’s draw, but a wide-open men’s competition in which an American could finally end the country’s long wait for a men’s Grand Slam champion. Can Shelton do it?