Add to that the heightened tension of a fifth set against a friend and countryman he lost to in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows a year ago, Ben Shelton, and Tiafoe’s eye-catching victory on Friday meant a lot to him, even if it was in the afternoon, not the evening, even if it was in the third round, not in Week 2.
After meeting Shelton’s big serve and playing brilliantly at the net, the 20th-seeded Tiafoe won his American rematch 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 in 4 hours and 3 minutes to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the fifth consecutive year.
“All my friends and people around me were like, ‘How come he doesn’t play at night? I don’t know how I’m going to get there. ’ Da, da, da. Blah, blah, blah. I was like, ‘The thing is, we don’t play at night. It doesn’t really matter. I just want to win,’” said Tiafoe, a 26-year-old from Maryland whose best Grand Slam run was a semifinal appearance at the 2022 US Open.
“It would have been great at night,” he said. “Look, it was epic during the day. I think everyone loved it.”
Well, everyone except Shelton, the 13th seed, his team and his fans, of course.
“It was back and forth, back and forth,” said Shelton, a 21-year-old from Georgia, “and I just couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities I had at the end. When he did have them today, he really stepped up in the big moments.”
When it was over, with a final volley winner off Tiafoe’s racquet that he hit rather nonchalantly but was anything but — “Man, it looked casual, but I was so tense,” he said he told Shelton afterward — the friends met at the net to hug and have a long talk.
“Sometimes it’s important to show that you can be happy for a player when he beats you,” Shelton said.
Their 2023 meeting was at night and Shelton went 2-1 up in sets before winning in four. This time, Tiafoe again trailed 2-1 but never faded.
“I don’t give up. I have pride in myself,” Tiafoe said. “I just want to win or lose matches, knowing that the guy beat me and I didn’t beat myself. There are no free lunches.”
Tiafoe’s next opponent could be 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, the defending champion at Flushing Meadows, played No. 28 Alexei Popyrin in the third round on Friday night.
Shelton and Tiafoe are part of a group of five Americans ranked in the top 20 of the ATP rankings, leading some to believe the country’s long wait for a major men’s champion could soon be over. Andy Roddick’s 2003 U.S. Open trophy was the most recent Grand Slam title for an American.
The top-ranked American right now, No. 12 Taylor Fritz, advanced with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win against Francisco Comesana and will now face three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud, who beat Juncheng Shang in five sets after dropping the first two. Another American, Brandon Nakashima, currently ranked No. 50, advanced by eliminating Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
The men’s fourth-round matchup set for Friday was No. 6 Andrey Rublev against No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov.
Shelton, a left-hander, had not dropped serve once in his two wins this week before Friday and managed to produce 23 aces, reaching 230 km/h. But Tiafoe racked up a whopping 21 break points — the most any opponent has had against Shelton — and converted five. The last made it 3-1 in the fifth set.
“Since I’ve been on tour,” Shelton said, “today was probably the best service anyone’s ever given me.”
Tiafoe has focused on improving that aspect of his game since teaming up with David Witt, who coached Venus Williams for years.
The other key on Friday? Tiafoe kept coming forward and hitting volleys. He won 35 of the 48 points when he came to the net. As usual, Tiafoe played for the fans and started celebrating with his “Salt Bae” after a point.
Tiafoe hasn’t always excelled in five-set matches: Before Friday, he was 6-13 in matches that went the distance. Shelton was 6-2. But none of that mattered this time.
“Once he got the lead in the fifth,” Shelton said, “he really started flying.”
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