As the US Open continued on Friday, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe faced off in a highly anticipated third round clash. The well-matched All-American contest ended with Tiafoe winning 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 after five thrilling sets.
Tiafoe will advance to his fifth consecutive round of 16 at Flushing Meadows, where he will face Alexei Popyrin, who upset No. 2 Novak Djokovic later on Friday.
Tiafoe and Shelton were well matched from the start, with Shelton, who broke through with a victory over Tiafoe last year, taking the first set with a 6-4 victory. In the second, Shelton took an early lead, but Tiafoe came back from 5-4 down to win the set 7-5.
The third set was incredibly even, with players trading breaks en route to a tiebreaker, all while playing top-level tennis.
The tie-break was more dramatic, as is often the case. Shelton took a 6-0 lead, but Tiafoe responded by holding off five straight set points, thanks in large part to Shelton’s errors. He finished with a set point missing, as Shelton hit an ace with a 143 mph serve to close out the set and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Tiafoe took the lead in the fourth set, going up 3-2, but Shelton won the next game and brought things back to 3-3. The two exchanged a match each, before Tiafoe won an uncontested match to lead 5-4. In the tiebreaker, Tiafoe took advantage of a few key errors from Shelton to win the set 6-4.
Tiafoe broke Shelton early in the fifth set, and the younger player simply looked too exhausted to stage another comeback. A number of demanding service sets caught up with him, while Tiafoe looked bouncy as always.
Both Americans played to their strengths well, with Shelton displaying his usual showmanship while Tiafoe delivered excellent, well-placed shots down the line. Tiafoe also took advantage of Shelton’s errors, as Shelton, 21, finished the match with 58 unforced errors to Tiafoe’s 27.
Shelton’s strength was more in his serve, with 23 aces and many more winners thanks to Tiafoe’s returns.
Shelton vs. Tiafoe has become something of a rivalry over the past year. Friday’s clash was a rematch of last year’s US Open, when Shelton, then 20, beat Tiafoe in four sets to advance to the semifinals and celebrated by pretending to hang up the phone. Shelton then lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Notably, Tiafoe will avoid Djokovic this time and will instead face the Australian Popyrin.
Friday’s clashes were good for the Americans, starting with Coco Gauff beating Elina Svitolina in three points after losing the first set. Gauff will now face fellow American Emma Navarro in the fourth round this weekend.
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