Frances Tiafoe completed a piece of US Open revenge in tense circumstances on Friday afternoon in New York.
Bidding to avoid defeat to Ben Shelton for the second year in a row at the hard-court major, Tiafoe rallied to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 third-round victory against his countryman after four hours and three minutes inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Played out in front of an electric New York crowd basking in the brilliant shotmaking of their countrymen, the match ended with Tiafoe pointing to the court after his handshake with Shelton mouthing the words, ‘This is my f#&*% house, This is my f#&*% house.’
The pulsating match delayed the start of the night session on Ashe, with defending champion Novak Djokovic set to take on recent Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin. Tiafoe will play the winner.
“First off, I gotta say, Ben’s an incredible player. He really is,” Tiafoe said. “He goes for all kinds of shots, he’s got no care in the world, it’s really annoying. He’s got a great serve. He has great energy out here.
“...He can come up with great shots, so can I. We both move really well. So its just highlight after highlight. I really hope you guys enjoyed the show.”
Tiafoe frequently redirected Shelton’s powerful groundstrokes to his advantage throughout the match and, perhaps surprisingly, he also enjoyed a more comfortable day on serve than his opponent. Although lefty Shelton sent down 23 aces, Tiafoe carved out 21 break points in the match to Shelton’s seven.
The way Tiafoe put disappointments behind him quickly was also a feature of his win. He held 0/40 on Shelton’s serve in consecutive return games in the second set, but was unable to convert on either occasion. He made no mistake in his next return game, however, when he clinched the only break of the set.
Another change of momentum came at the tailend of the third set, when Shelton roared into a 6/0 lead in the tie-break. Tiafoe’s responded with five straight points and, although Shelton then sealed the set with a 143 mph ace, Tiafoe had recaptured some of the momentum. He used it, notching the only break of serve in each of the fourth and fifth sets to claim his first win in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with his good friend Shelton.
Friday’s win was Tiafoe’s fifth in his past six matches against Top 20 opponents. The 26-year-old American’s only defeat in that tally came against World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in an ATP Masters 1000 championship match in Cincinnati earlier this month.
Awaiting Tiafoe in the fourth round in New York will be second seed Novak Djokovic or 28th seed Alexei Popyrin, who contest their third-round match later on Friday. Tiafoe will be bidding to reach the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year at the US Open, where he reached his only major semi-final to date in 2022.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
Bidding to avoid defeat to Ben Shelton for the second year in a row at the hard-court major, Tiafoe rallied to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 third-round victory against his countryman after four hours and three minutes inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Played out in front of an electric New York crowd basking in the brilliant shotmaking of their countrymen, the match ended with Tiafoe pointing to the court after his handshake with Shelton mouthing the words, ‘This is my f#&*% house, This is my f#&*% house.’
The pulsating match delayed the start of the night session on Ashe, with defending champion Novak Djokovic set to take on recent Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin. Tiafoe will play the winner.
“First off, I gotta say, Ben’s an incredible player. He really is,” Tiafoe said. “He goes for all kinds of shots, he’s got no care in the world, it’s really annoying. He’s got a great serve. He has great energy out here.
“...He can come up with great shots, so can I. We both move really well. So its just highlight after highlight. I really hope you guys enjoyed the show.”
Tiafoe frequently redirected Shelton’s powerful groundstrokes to his advantage throughout the match and, perhaps surprisingly, he also enjoyed a more comfortable day on serve than his opponent. Although lefty Shelton sent down 23 aces, Tiafoe carved out 21 break points in the match to Shelton’s seven.
FOE-NOMENAL TIAFOE@FTiafoe avenges his #USOpen loss last year to Shelton in a memorable thrilling encounter!!! pic.twitter.com/0pdtJYir91
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 30, 2024
The way Tiafoe put disappointments behind him quickly was also a feature of his win. He held 0/40 on Shelton’s serve in consecutive return games in the second set, but was unable to convert on either occasion. He made no mistake in his next return game, however, when he clinched the only break of the set.
Another change of momentum came at the tailend of the third set, when Shelton roared into a 6/0 lead in the tie-break. Tiafoe’s responded with five straight points and, although Shelton then sealed the set with a 143 mph ace, Tiafoe had recaptured some of the momentum. He used it, notching the only break of serve in each of the fourth and fifth sets to claim his first win in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with his good friend Shelton.
Friday’s win was Tiafoe’s fifth in his past six matches against Top 20 opponents. The 26-year-old American’s only defeat in that tally came against World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in an ATP Masters 1000 championship match in Cincinnati earlier this month.
Awaiting Tiafoe in the fourth round in New York will be second seed Novak Djokovic or 28th seed Alexei Popyrin, who contest their third-round match later on Friday. Tiafoe will be bidding to reach the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year at the US Open, where he reached his only major semi-final to date in 2022.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]