Frances Tiafoe secured a ticket to the round of 16 of the 2024 US Open after surviving an intense all-American battle against Ben Shelton. He earned a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory after five competitive sets that lasted four hours and six minutes.
Before this match, Tiafoe was 0-2 all-time against Shelton. Their first meeting was in the quarterfinals of last year’s US Open, which Shelton won in four sets.
“Ben’s an incredible player, man,” Tiafoe said after the game. “He makes all kinds of shots, he doesn’t have a care in the world. It’s really boring. He has a great serve and he has great energy here. He’s really talented, he can make great shots and so can I . “We both move really well, so it makes for one highlight after another. I really hope you enjoyed the show. “Just hours of battle.
Tiafoe was a semi-finalist at the US Open in 2022, the furthest he has ever reached at a major tournament. He had a roller coaster of a year, but he arrived at Flushing Meadows as the No. 20 seed and one of the top Americans hoping to end a Grand Slam drought. No American has won a major trophy since Andy Roddick won the trophy at the 2003 US Open.
After losing the first set on Friday, Tiafoe gave a glimpse of the competitiveness of the rest of the match by winning the second.
It looked like No. 13 seed Shelton was starting to run away when he found a 5-3 lead in the third set, but Tiafoe made up ground and forced a tiebreak. Shelton took a 6-0 lead, but his opponent wasn’t going to just hand him a set that was already an hour long. Tiafoe secured the next five points before Shelton delivered the fastest serve of the match at 143 mph to win the tiebreak. It was also the fastest serve of the entire tournament so far.
Tiafoe took a 5-4 lead in the fourth set, but he continued to struggle to convert break chances. However, he ultimately succeeded and forced a fifth set.
Shelton was starting to look tired and allowed Tiafoe to take a 4-1 lead in the deciding match. The 20-year-old fought back by winning the next match, but Tiafoe remained confident and eventually got the job done.
Next, Tiafoe will face the winner of the match between No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin and No. 2 Novak Djokovic.
