Frances Tiafoe earned a ticket to the round of 16 of the 2024 US Open after surviving an intense all-American battle against Ben Shelton. He took a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win after a competitive five sets that lasted four hours and six minutes.
Before this match, Tiafoe was 0-2 all-time against Shelton. Their first meeting had been during last year's U.S. Open quarterfinals, which Shelton won in four sets.
"Ben is an incredible player, man," Tiafoe said after the match. "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 and he has great energy out here. He is really talented, he can come up with great shots and so can I. We both move really well, so it give highlight after highlight. I really hope you guys enjoyed the show. Just hours of just battle."
Tiafoe was a semifinalist at the U.S. Open in 2022, which is the furthest he has ever made it in a major tournament. He has had a rollercoaster of a year, but he arrived to Flushing Meadows as the No. 20 seed and one of the top Americans who are hoping to end a Grand Slam drought. No American man has won a major trophy since Andy Roddick took the trophy at the 2003 U.S. Open.
After losing the first set on Friday, Tiafoe gave a preview of just how competitive the rest of the match would be by winning the second.
It looked like Shelton, the No. 13 seed, was starting to run away with it when he found a 5-3 lead in the third set, but Tiafoe caught up and forced a tiebreak. Shelton raced to a 6-0 lead, but his opponent wasn't going to just gift him a set that had already lasted an hour. Tiafoe got the next five points before Shelton hit the fastest serve of the match at 143 mph to win the tiebreak. That 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 with converting breakpoint opportunities. However, he eventually succeeded and forced a fifth set.
Shelton was starting to look tired and allowed Tiafoe to go up 4-1 in the decider. The 20-year-old pushed back by winning the next game, but Tiafoe remained confident and eventually got the job done.
Up next, Tiafoe will take on the winner of the match between No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin and No. 2 Novak Djokovic.